QD Roses and Swords
by DB Sommer
Summary: Another set of Quantum Destinies side stories. Here is how Ranma and Utena first meet, as well as the follow up Ohtori Academy Blues and one other QD Side story.
1. Chapter 1

Roses and Swords

A Quantum Destinies Side Story

Chapter 1

This is a story set in Jurai-Knight's 'Quantum Destinies' universe, and you will have to be familiar with that piece of work to follow this story. The events within take place after chapter eleven of Quantum Destinies.

Standard Disclaimer:

The Quantum Destines universe is Jurai-Knight's. Many of the characters within are not. Revolutionary Girl Utena is also owned by someone else.

Ages have been played with in the Utena story to make it more compatible with the Ranma characters. A 14 year old or so coming onto Ranma might make for a wee bit of trouble. ^_^

Any and all C+C is appreciated. You can contact me at

All of my stuff is now stored at:

.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The sound of Professor Hiro Fuji's footsteps echoed through the vast halls of the Ministry of Science as he made his way towards whichever room the monthly meeting with the other scientists of Project Phoenix was scheduled to take place. As important as the project was, he would have thought that they might have been permanently assigned a room of their own. However, since they usually only got together once a month to review the test subjects, it had been deemed been a waste of space, never mind that the entire future of the Empire might be decided by the project. Sometimes he wondered if it was nothing more than a matter of pride for feeling so strongly about the project. Pride. That was something he still retained in abundance, though some claimed it was closer to arrogance, several of his fellow scientists among them.

Fuji ran a hand through close-cropped black hair that showed just a touch of gray. It was a holdover from his time in the Security Directorate. The routines that had been ruthlessly hammered into him then had remained with him his entire life. He still ran four miles every morning, then performed five sets of sixty push-ups followed by the same number of sit-ups. Despite being nearly fifty years of age, physically he appeared to be no more than in his late thirties. The appreciative stares he received from women told him that. He was still quite the physical specimen, and hardly the type most would have considered to be one of the premier geneticists in the world. Of course, with Project Phoenix underway, the next generation of the Empire might all turn out like that, if not better.

Impatient, Fuji checked his watch; there was still a half hour before the meeting. News reports had said traffic was heavy today, so he had left his home early. Of course since he had left early instead of late it turned out that the reports had been exaggerated and now he would be forced to wait. He hoped he would have better luck at the meeting.

Fuji was still lamenting his luck when the sounds of children playing from up the hall caught his attention. Having nothing better to do, he went to investigate. As he turned the corner and located the source of the sound, he also spotted two familiar faces also involved with the project. Doctors Naoko Akagi and Yuji Katsuragi were being accompanied by two young girls, no more than six years old or so, playing with one another. A close look at the children's' faces told Fuji which girl belonged to whom.

"Doctor Akagi. Doctor Katsuragi." He bowed before both, who bowed to him in return.

"It's nice seeing you again." Akagi gave a warm smile. "I don't think you've ever met my daughter." She turned to the two girls. "Ritsuko. Say hello to Professor Fuji."

The blonde girl broke off the tug-of-war she was having with the other girl and politely said hello. Ritsuko didn't have a chance to do anything else as the black-haired girl then shoved her aside and took her place before Fuji. "My name's Misato," she declared with a smile.

"Don't shove me, Misato," Ritsuko complained.

"Why don't you make me?" And with that Misato stuck out her tongue and shoved Ritsuko again. Ritsuko responded by shoving her back, then the two began to roughhouse in earnest. Fuji noted that there was no actual meanness in either girl's features, implying it was more of a convenient release for the excessive energy such children always had. Though it was obviously more enjoyable for one than the other.

"Play nice with Ritsuko," Katsuragi warned as Misato continued to press her advantage, much to Ritsuko's irritation.

"Kids," Akagi said in the tired voice that only people raising children could use. "My nanny canceled at the last minute, so I had to bring her here."

Katsuragi said the same thing and complained about the problems of being a "single parent in this day and age." Fuji was suddenly glad he had never married and had to deal with any children, or more specifically, children that young. In truth, his life now almost completely revolved around a very special set of youths; a life mirrored in the others that were coming to the meeting. "Since we have a moment to ourselves, I wanted to ask you something off the record. How do you think the project has been coming along? And I just want your basic opinions, not some long-winded speech from the project's mission statement. We'll have more than enough of those at the meeting."

Akagi and Katsuragi looked at each other, then laughed. Katsuragi spoke first. "I should say we have complete faith in it."

"After all," Akagi continued. "We've already given Ritsuko and Misato the treatment. Putting our money where our mouth is, so to speak."

"I guess that does pretty much say it all." Fuji was astonished. Neither scientist was known for their blind faith. It was surprising that they would be willing to give their own children the treatment at such an early stage in the project. Of course, given the age limitations with the current form of the treatment, if they waited too long neither child would be eligible for the process. Missing their opportunity for it would eventually leave them behind when the treatment was made available to the rest of the public. There was still a safety factor to be considered, though. Certainly, Fuji was not so overconfident as to believe that the treatment was one hundred percent reliable, but what in life was? And it was not as though they were his children. He decided to just stop worrying about it and moved the discussion onto other topics.

Time passed quickly as they became absorbed in their conversation. A handful of other early arrivals joined the trio. Eventually, the children became more of a nuisance as they began to grow bored with all of the "grown-up talk" and tried harassing their parents into doing something with them. The doctors sent their daughters to another waiting room where a secretary could keep an eye on them. It was shortly after their return the remaining project members showed up, and everyone entered the room.

Upon entering, Fuji saw that the room they were using was more comfortable than what they had used before. It was at least twice as large and had a greater feel of importance to it. Director Saito, the head of the project, must have arranged for the 'upgrade' of their own. The long table, which could seat as many as twenty, was of a very visually appealing redwood, undoubtedly imported from the Western North American Prefectures and costing an exorbitant amount of money. The chairs were also very plush, covered with a material that reminded Fuji of satin. They were a far cry from the uncomfortable plastic backed ones they had previously used at all of the other meetings.

As everyone began seating themselves in the same order they usually did at the meetings, Fuji looked all of the other project heads over. All twelve were present, including his old friend, Professor Kouzou Fuyutsuki. Almost directly across from him was Doctor Yoshiki Matsuda. That was the one Fuji wanted to see the most. This was the meeting where he got his overbearing ego deflated a bit. The others were all prominent members in the scientific community, and all vital to the project, but those two along with the Director, were the only ones that truly mattered on this day.

Small discussions broke out among the various members. It was not until the head of the Project, Director Saito, entered that the others quieted down. He gave a simple greeting and took his seat at the head of the table.

Once comfortable, the meeting officially began. "Are there any urgent messages or problems that demand some sort of immediate response or attention?" Silence was all that met his deep baritone voice. The Director nodded his head in approval. "Good. Then I don't see any reason why we can't begin the meeting. I want Professor Fuji to open the review today. His preliminary reports seem to give us some unique insights as to how the project is progressing."

A wide grin spread across Fuji's features; this was exactly what he wanted. He opened up his briefcase and passed copies of his monthly report around the table. Once everyone had a copy and had a chance to open to the first page, he began. "Allow me to review a few things before I begin. As most of you are aware, we arranged for several of the children to be placed together in Ohtori Academy. Unlike most of the other children, who we were going to allow to awaken first, then bring together, we wanted to see what would happen if they were in close proximity to one another beforehand. Now that they have had time to assimilate with one another, I'm proud to announce that the study has garnered some very interesting results.

"Each of the seven members of the test group have shown excellent scores in both intelligence and physical activities, all of them high above the norm for children of that age, and slightly above the average of most of the other groups. Interestingly, on their own and without any outside encouragement, they have taken over the entire membership of the student council and demonstrated an aptitude for leadership, though in somewhat unique ways. They have even managed to spread their influence to some of the teaching staff. Combined, they represent the primary driving force at the Ohtori itself. It is their voice that is heard above all others. There is no non-project child even close to them in influence and power there."

Fuji watched as all of the project members listened intently to his speech with satisfied looks. He had known that placing the children in the school was an environment that would produce conclusive results. Again, he had to suppress the satisfied smirk he wanted to give, since most of the others had originally met his idea with skepticism.

"Exemplary leadership qualities are only one facet of this experiment that has met with our project goals. The children have also organized a formal way of producing a hierarchy to choose who the alphas of the group will be. They have formed something of a duelists club, whereby they engage in a number of duels per week. The results of these fights serve to enforce the rule of the alphas of the group. I have the informal ranks on the sheets before you."

Eyes poured over the individual test numbers in comparison to the alpha rankings among the Adams and Eves. With only the exception of Saionji Kyouichi, who was ranked fourth among his peers when he was the third highest in the test scores, the rankings followed the numbers pattern from highest to lowest, just as Fuji had thought they would.

Fuji continued, "As you will note, Utena Tenjou has the highest scores of all of the test subjects at Ohtori. In fact, I believe only Nabiki Tendou is currently rated higher than her, and Tendou is a year older. In less than two months after her awakening, she has become the alpha of her group, defeating even Touga Kiryuu, whose score is only slightly lower than hers." He resisted rubbing his hands in satisfaction as he looked towards Matsuda. This was where he poked the buffoon's bubble of arrogance. "Since every other member of the group comes from a noble family, and she comes from nothing more than common stock, I believe it is safe to assume that the theory about the noble bloodlines containing superior genes and automatically becoming the alphas of the group is blatantly incorrect. Or as Miss Tenjou is apt to say, 'Nobility is carried in the heart, not in the blood'."

Doctor Matsuda gave a restrained evil glare. He and Fuji had argued from the beginning about the superior genes that the nobility possessed. That Matsuda was from a prominent family, and Fuji had come from a lower class background, only served to widen the rift between their viewpoints. "You've been spending a lot of time with that particular test subject, haven't you, Professor?"

"Not so much more than the others," Fuji said, noting the venom that had dripped from Matsuda's voice. It was true that he had spent more time with Utena, convinced that she would blossom into an alpha that would show up the rest of the noble-blooded children. However, he had done nothing to tamper either with her or with the project itself. He already knew that the theory of the superiority of noble blood was nonsense. Trying to cheat by altering any part of the program for his benefit would have done nothing but show doubts about his own theories. It was true that Utena was a personal favorite of his, especially since her scores were so high, but he would never have allowed that to bias the project. It showed how little Matsuda understood Fuji to believe that he would stoop to such tactics.

"She has received extensive training in both armed and unarmed combat, but that was only an attempt to gauge her abilities. The others underwent the same training upon their awakening. The only difference is that she has continued to rise at a phenomenal rate, much more quickly than any of the others. You can see that on the weekly measurement charts in comparison to the other children. It's all in the file I gave you."

Matsuda ground his teeth quietly enough so that the others did not hear. Apparently, Fuji was telling the truth, much to his irritation.

"Don't feel so bad," Director Saito told Matsuda. "I thought there was a good chance the noble bloodlines would prove superior to others. However, as time goes on, it appears the process is more random than we thought."

With the head of the project all but ordering him to calm down, Matsuda forced himself to relax. With great reluctance he admitted to himself that it might be the truth. There were also indications from the other children that the purity of the noble bloodlines made no difference in test scores or becoming an alpha of a group. There was possibly still a chance that, in a larger test group the nobility would prove superior, but it was becoming less likely as the time continued and more results came in.

Fuji took silent note of his victory. Now he had something to cut down Matsuda with the next time he became too pompous. However, it would have to wait, Director Saito made his order to continue all too clear with a single look of 'keep the meeting impersonal'.

Fuji switched topics. "There have been several other discoveries as well. Extensive psychological profiles and observations suggest that Juri Arisugawa demonstrated lesbian tendencies in her pre-awakening days. However, shortly after her Phoenix qualities began to surface, she has been interacting with the Adams of her group in what is almost surely sexually interested ways, though in my estimation she is unaware of her own behavior."

"You're certain she wasn't bi-sexual all along?" Katsuragi asked with a hint of eagerness in his voice.

"Psychology isn't a perfect science, of course," Fuji said. "But all the evidence indicated she had no interest in men. We focused on her very early when it appeared we would be able to monitor this difficult to produce situation and are confident of our theories."

"So it appears that the biological attraction factors we built into the children are capable of overriding deviant sexual tendencies," Katsuragi said with a measure of satisfaction drifting into his voice.

"Must you be so crude?" Professor Anno asked.

Katsuragi held his hands up defensively. "I only mean deviant in the sense that it interferes with the procreation with the species, which is the one of the ultimate goals of the project. Perhaps 'sexual preferences' would be a better term?"

Anno nodded reluctantly in agreement.

Fuji cleared his throat. "I wouldn't go so far as to declare that a statement of fact. This is only one test subject, and there is no guarantee that her interest in Adams will hold, or that she will give up seeking same-sex partners either among the Eves or outside Project Phoenix altogether. We are certain that, to date, she has had no sexual contact with any of the other children; that is the most important data we'll need to draw any conclusions. We'll need more test cases to see if the pheromonal cues of the Adams and Eves is capable of overriding inherent sexual preferences, or if it's some kind of psychological change that the Phoenix Children undergo themselves."

"Still, if she has suddenly expressed interest in the Adams, and none of the Eves, then it's not unreasonable to assume that the pheromonal cues are playing a role in this," Director Saito broke in, obviously intrigued. "I want a very close eye kept on her. Double the amount of people assigned to observe her, while still being surreptitious about it. This is exactly the sort of thing we've been looking for in the Mark II process. Please continue."

Doctor Akagi listened to the conversation while continuing to leaf through the information on several of Fuji's test results. She had heard the old argument before and had her own ideas on the matter. Unlike the others, she chose to keep them to herself until she had more data. As she continued reading and listening at the same time, something on one of the later pages caught her eye. She interrupted Fuji before he could continue. "I'm concerned about this unusual attraction Nanami Kiryuu seems to have for her brother, Touga. Is it as bad as it appears?"

Fuji nodded. "She has been showing a very intense interest in her older brother. There might have been signs of it before her awakening, but now they're conclusive. She has definitely shown extreme signs of possessiveness and, of more concern, possible sexual interest."

"Do you think it's a breakdown in the genetic 'circuit breakers' we put in the children to keep siblings from becoming interested in one another?" Saito asked. It had long been a worry of both himself and the others that the attraction factor would carry over to siblings. It had always been the opinion of the Council that having an Adam and Eve living under the same roof, without any other Adams or Eves available, would result in a coupling over seventy percent of the time. If they could not develop a way for family members to resist being interested in one another, the whole project would have to be scrapped. Inbreeding was still a problem, even with the genetic restructuring that Project Phoenix children had undergone. To combat that possibility, they had put genetically placed responses in each of the children that if a pheromonal lure was similar to theirs, they would not feel any attraction towards one another. Simulations indicated it would be effective up to a first cousin level. Any relation beyond that and the buffer was apparently ineffective. They also had no accurate data on how effective it would hold up among half-sisters and brothers, a situation which none of the test subjects was in.

Doubt was apparent on Fuji's features. "Unknown. But even if that is the case, I don't think it's cause for alarm. None of the other project children that are siblings have demonstrated similar behavior."

"Indeed," Fuyutsuki agreed. "Two of my test cases, Tatewaki and Kodachi Kunou, have never expressed that sort of interest in one another. And I believe Professor Fuji's own test subjects, the twins Miki and Kozue Kauru, have not either."

"Possessiveness, but not sexual attraction," Fuji clarified, though close observations made him wonder at times concerning Kozue. But now was not the time to mention them. Likewise there was another factor that indicated there was no problem. "Aside from that, we are fairly certain she had had intercourse with Touga."

"Good," Fuyutsuki said. "And Touga has expressed no interest in Nanami, correct?"

"True," Fuji said. "There's never been any indication that he has any desire for her. On the contrary, he's rebuffed all of what we think are her advances. Never a sign of anything beyond filial love for her."

"It could be a genetic flaw," Matsuda admitted. His previous anger was now forgotten as he delved once again into the project's results. "We always knew there would be as much as a three percent error ratio built into the process. Admittedly, that's a lot better than the initial ten percent we were suffering in the Mark I children, but it's still room for error. It sounds to me like this might be an instance of it."

One of the other members that had remained silent up to that point, Doctor Kunikida, leafed through several sheets until he came upon a curious detail. "What's this about an esper that hangs around the alpha of the group?"

"Oh, that." Fuji was surprised Kunikida had gotten that far through the report. "Her name is Anthy Himehiya. From what the Mobius Institute tells me, she's a telekenetic of enormous power. She'd be a valuable member of the Institute except for one tiny detail: her personality is complete passive. She wouldn't harm a fly on her own. She was transferred to Ohtori to see what her reactions would be in a school environment in the hopes that she would become more aggressive, but there have been no noticeable changes in her personality.

"Curiously, shortly upon the formation of the duelists club, Anthy began spending time with them, or, more specifically, remaining close to whoever the current alpha of the group is. It's more than a general attraction. Her initial interest was in Saionji, but the moment he fell to Touga, she switched her attentions to him. I had assumed it was some sort of sexual attraction, until now. Utena has become the alpha of the group, and Anthy is now… well, almost completely subservient to her, as near as we can tell."

"Do you think she can sense their pheremonal scents?" Futuysuki asked. There had been little study done on a possible link between espers and Phoenix Children. Too little was understood about the genetics involved with psychics, and considering the last horribly doomed attempt at genetically creating espers, all such projects were shelved until more studies could be done to understand them better.

"The Institute has theorized that she has somehow subconsciously tapped into their hierarchy, perhaps through a low level of telepathy, and that she's following the alpha of the pack. Given the number of times she has switched to the alpha, I think it's a distinct possibility."

"I haven't seen any indication of this at the Imperial Academy. We have a couple of espers registered there," Fuyutsuki said, then admitted, "Although I haven't exactly been looking for it either."

"It could be just this particular girl. If she's that passive, she might be looking for someone like an alpha to follow," Saito said, having more familiarity with espers and the Institute than the others. "We still know next to nothing about the creation or mechanics of psychic abilities. It's not a priority, but I think it would be advisable to keep an eye out on interaction between the children and any espers they meet to see if similar reactions occur."

The others nodded their heads in agreement, their minds staring to race with the new possibilities.

"It's been an eventful session today, and it's just beginning," Katsuragi said to the group.

"Heh. Small surprise," Matsuda said in better spirits. A great deal of the information that he had learned today was going to be applied to the children under his observation. "This project represents perhaps the greatest single achievement in the history of mankind, and it is entirely the Empire's. No one can even come close to what we have achieved here, and it is largely thanks to us."

Fuji took note of the number of heads that nodded in satisfaction around the table. It really was amazing what people could intentionally forget when they chose to. He took it upon himself to burst the pleasant little bubble they had wrapped themselves in.

"Lorenze Keele," Fuji said softly, and found himself rewarded with the room falling into a deathly silence.

Matsuda recovered first, then shot Fuji an evil stare. "Look, the Germans' Human Instrumentality Project was an abysmal failure. Over ninety percent of the children became complete psychopaths. The Germans themselves were planning on redoing the project from scratch before we took care of the matter."

"And what of the remaining children that were not failures?" Fuji asked.

"They were liquidated. The Germans were afraid that any children they produced would turn out like the other test subjects. We got that from Keele's own personal files when we captured them."

"Yes. Very convenient, that. We were never able to get our hands on anything else of his over the years, except that one time," Fuji said as he watched Matsuda light up a cigarette. Talking about Keele always aggravated Fuji's older rival to no end. Starting to smoke was always a sign of that aggravation. Fuji took delight in the time he had gotten Matsuda to go through an entire pack in one meeting.

Director Saito entered the conversation. "We back checked it through the Directorate. Files and the bodies of all the test subjects were accounted for through alternate German resources."

"Besides, it doesn't matter," Matsuda reassured him. "Black Ops teams killed Professor Oppenheimer. He was the mastermind behind the genetics portion of the Human Instrumentality Project. Once he was dead and all of his notes and experiments were destroyed, the whole thing was completely scrapped. They couldn't have recreated the project, even if they wanted to."

"And Keele's dead," Akagi provided. "He died when his Antarctic base was destroyed six years ago."

"Did they ever find the body?" Fuji asked, fully knowing the answer.

"Of course not!" Matsuda snapped. "The whole base was completely vaporized, along with over four hundred members of the Empire's best special forces units! I should know! My son was among them!"

"We all feel for your loss," Director Saito said, then turned to Fuji. "Your personal obsession about Keele is showing again, doctor. He's long since dead, and everything about the Human Instrumentality Project has ceased to exist."

Fuji had to shake his head at that. His fellow project members were becoming more desperate to reassure themselves that there was nothing to fear. "Keele's been declared dead by our own much-vaunted intelligence service four other times in the past thirty years, once while I was still a member of it, and he always had a nasty tendency to turn up alive anyway. Forgive me if I am a bit incredulous."

"Paranoid, you mean," Matsuda murmured just loudly enough for everyone to hear.

Fuji shrugged, his respect for Matsuda deteriorating further. "I just find it terribly convenient that everything and everyone related to whatever it was he was working on in Antarctica was completely destroyed. We still have no idea of what he was up to. The whole thing reeks of a set up."

"That is irrelevant to this discussion," Director Saito informed him, his patience at losing the direction of the meeting at an end. "We are here to discuss Project Phoenix, not if a terrorist like Lorenze Keele is still alive. Let's continue with the discussion."

That declaration ended any further talk of the matter. Fuji completed his presentation. Others followed, though none were as full of the number of new discoveries that Fuji's had been.

It was as the group broke up (and Fuji shot Matsuda a smile, causing the older man to leave in a huff) that Fuji took the opportunity to talk to Fuyutsuki. He was met pleasantly, and the two began a private discussion about the session's events.

"I hope to have a great deal more to share with the others the next time we get together," Fuyutsuki said.

"Hoping to one up me?" Fuji knew Fuyutsuki would not take that statement seriously. The two had been friends for too long.

Fuyutsuki gave a light-hearted grin. "Top you? Never. But I think things in my group of children are about to happen. My gut instincts tell me it's going to be something big."

Fuji took note of how eager Fuyutsuki was. That would make what he had to say even easier. "Speaking of big, I was thinking…"

"A dangerous pastime."

"I know," Fuji chuckled. "Seriously, I have an idea. I know that Utena is the alpha in my group and likely to remain that way. Touga is close to her, but I want her tested against someone new. Someone that might be tough enough to give her a run for her money."

"I suspect this is where I come in," Fuyutsuki said.

"Yes." Fuji took the plunge. "I'd like to test her against one of your children. Either Nabiki Tendou or Ranma Saotome. Utena's scores are right in-between the two. And we know that a differentiation of less then thirty points is insignificant."

Fuyutsuki considered that. Testing either one of them against Fuji's 'pride and joy' would be a valuable experiment. It would give one of his children experience against another highly ranked Eve from outside the test group. Certainly, it was an opportunity he was reluctant to pass up. Also, if either Ranma or Nabiki defeated Utena, it would give Fuyutsuki bragging rights to the top alpha in all of the test groups. All he had to do was choose which one.

"Saotome," Fuyutsuki decided. That way he would still have his number one child in reserve, just in case Tenjou somehow defeated Ranma, not that Fuyutsuki thought that was likely. He had seen Ranma fighting with Nabiki. Tenjou might have been good, but the skill with which Saotome, as well as Nabiki, fought would be difficult to match. No, Fuyutsuki thought, there was little doubt that when it came time for the next session, he would be able to proclaim that his test subjects were the best of the best.

"When should we have them meet?" Fuyutsuki asked.

"I think a couple of days should be enough,' Fuji said. "Why don't we surprise them? We'll inform them on the same day the match is to take place."

"I would like it at Imperial Academy," Fuyutsuki said. Home field advantage never hurt.

"I was thinking the same thing." Fuji did not want the possible loss of status to occur on the Ohtori Academy grounds. On the offhand chance Utena lost, one of the others might try to press an advantage and take her position as alpha. It would be best that the fight occur at the Imperial Academy.

"I'll call you with more precise details."

"Good," Fuji said. "I want to go over some of the new information we received today. Then in two days we'll meet."

Both men decided to break up the discussion and departed. Fuji got into his car and drove off, wondering exactly how to tell Utena that she had a duel of a different kind coming up.

xxxxxxxxxx

Sweat poured as the elegant clash continued, wood striking wood, yielding an oddly alluring symphony broken intermittently by the sound of a strike on flesh. Blows rained in, each wooden blade seeking its target so as to gain victory for its wielder. In an ever-widening circle, the two duelists met, thrusting, parrying, swinging a blow in an overhead arc only to meet with air, then being forced to back off lest the other connect with a sword stroke of their own. And so the dance continued.

Everything about the dueling pair was a demonstration in opposites. One was a tall, powerfully-built man with a greenish tint to long hair that curled at the ends. His opponent was a girl, shorter by a head and slender, though tightly muscled, with pink tresses that flowed straight down past her neck. The man was using a technique that relied upon his superior power, whereas the girl's relied more on speed. Even their school outfits were different despite a similarity in styling: stark white for the man, jet black for the girl.

The heated duel was just entering its third minute when the man, Saionji saw the opening he needed. His opponent had at last made the mistake he knew would eventually come. He brought his bokken over in a wide swing, knowing that he would strike with a resounding blow into Utena's skull. A wide smile broke out across his features as the satisfaction of his long-awaited revenge upon the girl overwhelmed him.

That damned Utena Tenjou! In an instant, his mind flashed back to the day he had first set eyes upon the odd girl with the pink tresses and who wore the elegant black styling of a boy's uniform to school. The one that had the audacity to publicly challenge him to a duel on only her fourth day at the Academy. Even then, he knew it would be a day to remember. The instant she had issued her challenge, the hushed whispers of the crowd that had gathered to admire him (and he had many admirers, though not as many as Touga) gave him the information he needed to know.

"It's the new girl."

"Her name's Utena Tenjou. I heard she's a second year cadet."

"No. She's only in her first year. Why does she wear a boy's uniform though?"

"Who knows? She might be a little strange, but there's something about her that's just so…sensual. It makes her handsome, yet still feminine."

"Ha! It sounds like you're in love, Wakaba. You're giving up on Saionji pretty quick. Though there is a presence about her…"

Saionji ignored the rest of the comments and scoffed at the insolence of the bizarre upstart. He approached her, intent on delivering a reprimand that would remind the others to remain in their proper place as well. As he got closer, he could have sworn he detected the odd scent of something in the air, and suddenly felt himself drawn to her. The effect was even more powerful than the one he had when his fellow Student Council members, Juri Arisugawa or Kozue Karou, were around him. Looking at the new girl's face, a face full of confidence yet lacking in arrogance, he found himself in agreement with the others. There was a sort of sensuality around her that made the cross-dressing seem somehow appropriate. He silently decided that, after delivering his reprimand, he would make her his before Ohtori's most infamous playboy, Touga, had the chance to.

The crowd, which had already parted when Utena had delivered her bold challenge, gave an even wider berth as he approached her. Saionji stood towering above her, looking down into eyes that held no fear of him, just righteous determination. The girl was far too impertinent for her own good. He brought his hand back so quickly that only a few in the crowd were able to follow the movement. With one blow he would put her in her proper place. The hand descended and the girl…

…ducked almost too quickly for Saionji to follow. In missing the slap, he found himself off-balance, giving her the opening she needed to deliver a kick into his stomach, driving the air from his lungs.

She stood over him, a smirk on her face that would have enraged Saionji if he had still been able to breathe. "If that's all the speed you have, it's not going to be much of a fight."

She turned without giving him another glance and made her way to the gymnasium. The crowd followed her, not giving Saionji a backward glance. His anger swelled as he vowed to hurt the soon-to-be-not-so-pretty-girl. No one humiliated Saionji Kyouichi like that. No one.

He then moved to the gym, shoving the people aside that moved too slowly to make way for him. He saw that the girl had already drawn a bokken from a nearby rack and was going through a basic kata with it, loosening up. Only later would he remember that she had moved with an exquisite grace that even the best swordsman among them, Touga, paled in comparison to.

However, his rage blinded him as he tore a bokken out of the rack, nearly destroying it in the process. No time was taken to warm up as he brought his weapon up in a guard position, giving only a moment for Utena to prepare, then attacked. Adrenaline pumped through his system, exciting him even further as he lashed out with vicious strikes, trying to break through Utena's defenses to deliver unto her the beating she so richly deserved. But somehow her defenses held. He tried harder to power past the blocks, and in so doing, made a mistake. She brought the bokken up into his stomach, then lashed across his face with a power that he had not thought possible for her lithe form. The blow sent him reeling across the gym. He recovered long enough to try to defend himself from her increasingly powerful attacks, but it was to no avail. A third and fourth blow found their marks. A fifth one caught him across the temple, driving him into unconsciousness.

Later, he woke up, head bandaged and ringing as though he had a concussion, though he was able to think clearly. He saw Touga sitting in a chair at the foot of his bed, which he quickly realized was in the school infirmary. The first thing that went through Saionji's mind was surprise that his old friend had cared enough to see how he was. However, that illusion was quickly shattered when, after asking a few cursory questions about Saionji's condition, Touga began interrogating him about the "fascinating new girl" that he had heard about. Saionji informed him that it had been a lucky blow, and that the girl would lose when next they met.

But that had not happened, and Saionji had met defeat a second time, even more quickly than he had the first. Shortly after that he dropped a match to Juri, one in which he had challenged her in an effort to improve his morale. Fearing he had lost his touch, he had gone into intensive training to improve both his conditioning and skills. Dean Fuji had even helped him by having several special trainers run him through an intense physical regimen that was far more difficult than anything the school's normal curriculum carried. After completing it, he was certain that it would make the difference.

And it had. He was now poised to take his long awaited vengeance. All he had to do was connect with Utena's undefended head. He brought his bokken across, committing the scene to memory as the wood was only a split second away from impacting with her skull. The thought turned sour as, at the last second, Utena ducked under the blow; the bokken striking nothing but her trailing hair. As what happened all too often when he fought Utena, Saionji found himself off-balance for a moment. It was a moment Utena took full advantage of. Her right hand, the one holding the bokken, came up and caught Saionji full in the nose, breaking it. Pain overwhelmed him as blood poured from the broken proboscis.

She quickly followed up with another blow even as the first cry of pain escaped Saionji's lips, bringing a knee up into his stomach and doubling him over in pain, driving him to the ground. The bokken slipped from his grasp and clattered to the floor. It was as he was trying to regain his footing that he heard the words that cut in over his agony.

"Hey, Saionji. Remember how you hit Anthy the other day?"

An image of Anthy came to him. The exotic, dark-skinned girl had once been his. But the instant he lost a duel to Touga, she had changed suitors and gone to the victor. When she was with Touga, there was nothing that could be done; even Saionji would not cross him like that. But once Utena had defeated Touga, Anthy had ignored the playboy altogether and began following Utena. In Saionji's mind that meant she was available. So, on the previous night he approached her, demanding they begin their relationship again. Anthy politely rejected his advances, claiming she belonged at Utena's side. In anger, both for her rebuff and for the implication a mere girl was more desirable then him, he backhanded her across the face. It had not been the first time he had slapped a girl for forgetting her place, or even the first time he had struck Anthy. He left her holding her face, warning her that if it was only winners she desired, then she would have one come tomorrow.

And now tomorrow had come. Apparently Anthy had told Utena what had happened or she had seen it for herself. Utena did not sound particularly pleased either.

"Answer the question!" she spat.

"Yes. I remember."

A bokken crashed into his skull, hard, driving him into unconsciousness.

"Big mistake," Utena said, nudging Saoinji's prone body with her foot to make sure he would not be getting up any time soon.

A finger hit the button on a stopwatch. "Three minutes, forty-five seconds, Miss Utena. An impressive time considering Saionji's increased skill level."

"Thanks, Miki." Utena turned from Saionji's fallen body to the others, whose forms were partially hidden of the shadows of the room. The room itself was very strange, located in the highest tower on the campus, and prohibited from everyone but the Dean and the Student Council, and whomever they chose to bring with them.

The circular design of the room itself was odd. It was large, about forty feet long and fifty feet wide, and an ideal size for dueling. As with nearly everything else with the academy, intricate roses of wood had been sculpted and adorned the top of the room where the walls and ceiling met. The large windows that dominated an entire side of the room allowed the morning light to bathe the chamber in a soothing yellow glow. During noon the whole thing was brightly lit, and Utena would occasionally go there to enjoy the day. But as the sun set, it would produce shadows that hid everything on the opposite side of the room, giving the whole area a very sinister feel. Perhaps that was why most of the duels tended to take place during those early evening hours.

The other six occupants that had witnessed the fight emerged from the shadows, varying degrees of emotion on their faces. Touga Kiryuu turned the smile that so many of the school's girls swooned at, upon Utena and appeared truly impressed, while his sister, Nanami, hid nothing of her jealousy as she scowled in Utena's direction. Miki Kauru had a friendly smile for Utena, mirroring their own easy friendship, while his twin sister, Kozue, had nothing but disdain directed at the girl with the pink tresses. Juri Arisugawa had her usual imperceptible look, while Anthy Himehiya rushed over and practically gushed over Utena.

"That was a wonderful victory, Miss Utena." The fading sunlight glinted off of Anthy's glasses as she plucked the pink rose, that she had given Utena for luck, from the lapel of her left breast. After that, Anthy offered the sweating girl a white towel.

Utena took it, mopping the sweat from her brow as she accepted Touga, Miki, and Juri's congratulations. Occasionally, she still felt as though she were the odd girl out, especially since she was the only one that wore the standard black uniform of the school while the others, save Anthy, wore the white version of the same outfit, identifying them as the representatives of the Student Council. The one reassuring thing was that even the girls wore the same uniform as the boys. With the style of clothing Utena usually chose, she didn't seem out of place among the female Student Council's uniforms, that were much more masculine in style than what most women at the Academy wore. The only one in the room others would have been easily able to identify as a woman, from a distance, would have been Anthy, who was dressed in the standard white shirt and blue skirt of a female student of Ohtori Academy.

"I warned Saionji he wasn't ready for this." Touga Kiyuu, the tall, strikingly handsome third year cadet and president of the student council, gave a disappointed shake of his head as he looked at the fallen form before them.

"He had it coming," Juri, the second year cadet with the curly red hair and lean, yet supple frame spoke with the air of authority. Miki ran a hand through his own short cut black hair before nodding his head in agreement.

"So the 'Prince of Ohtori' wins again," Nanami snorted in disgust, refusing to hide her contempt.

Utena ignored the sarcasm-laden use of her nickname and turned to Anthy. "Could you do me a favor and take him down to the infirmary? I think I broke his nose, and he's going to need it reset."

"Certainly, Miss Utena." Anthy gave her usual pleasant smile. Of course, Utena had now been with Anthy long enough to know that if she told her to dance naked while reciting haikus to the student population, Anthy would have smiled in the exact same way and gone off to do it just as happily.

Anthy made no move towards Saionji. Instead, he levitated off the ground, as though a set of invisible hands had lifted him, and began to trail behind the psychic girl. She went to the stairs that led back down to the main part of the school, Saionji's unconscious form following.

Utena noticed Nanami and Miki shudder slightly; they were still not used to open displays of Anthy's telekinetic abilities. In spite of the girl's power, unless Utena ordered her to, Anthy never used them. It was not as though the dark-skinned girl was afraid of her abilities or saw anything wrong with it; she simply never felt like using them. That was only one of the many odd personality quirks of the girl who had all but become as much Utena's personal servant as friend. She had tried to tell Anthy not to act so servile and just be herself, but it was to no avail. She did anything and everything Utena asked of her.

Utena was still pondering what to do about Anthy when the sound of clapping alerted her and the rest of the students to a newcomer's presence.

"I saw your handiwork pass me on the stairs. I'm sorry to have missed the fight."

"Dean Fuji!" Utena's heart raced as she stood before the man who had all but taken her under his wing since she had transferred to Ohtori. He was the one who had persuaded her to take the advanced physical training and hand-to-hand combat courses. Now she was in far better shape then she had ever been in her entire life and was nearly unbeatable in a fight, as any of the people in the room could attest to. Only Juri and Touga could press her anymore, and even then the outcome was never really in doubt to her. The fights simply lasted longer.

Utena calmed down a bit as the dean of the school, Professor Hiro Fuji approached her. "I might have been a little rough on him, but I'm sure he's okay. I wouldn't really hurt him." No matter how much he deserved it, she added mentally.

"Of course not. You're always in control and would never go out of your way to hurt anyone." He patted her on the shoulder. "You know, I couldn't help but noticing that you seem to be very popular in school nowadays."

Utena blushed. "I don't know what you mean."

"Come now, you're being too modest." Touga interrupted. "I hear the name 'Utena' on everyone's lips."

"Indeed," Fuji said, pleased at Touga's interjection. The boy was doing it to impress Utena, of that much Fuji was certain, but it still assisted him and his own intentions. "Ohtori Academy finished first in the fencing, kendo, volleyball, and basketball tournaments thanks in no small part to you."

"You're making too much out of it," Utena said, turning an even deeper shade of red.

"Not at all," Fuji assured her. "I was just wondering if you were going to run in the student elections that are coming up in a couple of months. With the school expanding as much as it has, I was considering opening up another position on the Student Council. You'd be the perfect representative."

"I don't know," Utena said, suddenly unsure of the direction the conversation had taken. "I don't think I'm cut out for politics."

"Neither is Kozue, but she's on the Student Council," Miki said, blissfully unaware of the insult. "I think you'd be a wonderful representative."

Kozue shot him an evil glare.

"You have all of the abilities to be an outstanding leader. Besides, all of your friends are already members" Fuji insisted.

Utena wondered where he had come up with the idea they were friends. Miki and Anthy, who were first year cadets like herself, were the only ones in the group she would call friends. The others fell into a variety of different categories.

It was very odd how she had seemed to just fall in with the group, just as they had more or less accepted her shortly after she had first appeared. It was almost as though they had all felt an inexplicable urge to be around one another. But they weren't really friends. Juri was more like an acquaintance, though there was something of a polite rivalry between them. She liked, but didn't trust, the silver-tongued Touga or the much more quiet Kozue. And she knew both Saionji and Nanami hated her with a passion. Despite the level of distrust she felt for many of the members, she still felt herself inexorably drawn to the group, compelled to prove herself to be the best among them. And she had proven that. Perhaps it was simply that they could provide her with the challenges she sought to improve herself.

And then there was that odd, almost palpable sensation when she spent time among them. It was only recently that she could admit that she found herself attracted to most of the men in the group, especially when they engaged in their regular duels, but it was not as though she actually wanted to go out with any of them. Saionji was a conceited jerk. Touga was admittedly handsome, but also a playboy that seemingly had over three quarters of the female population swooning over him (including Kozue, much to Miki's irritation). Miki was nice enough. Utena had almost asked him out early on, but then quickly reconsidered. She felt it would be best if they remain friends, especially since he was the only one on the council she felt she could trust. No. Although she was tempted occasionally, she was much more satisfied with the platonic relationships she had developed with the men in the group.

As to actually becoming a real member of the council, well, she did tend to hang around them most of her time. And she did have problems with some of the things they tended to do when acting as the Student Council. Perhaps it wouldn't be so objectionable to at least consider running for one of the seats.

Fuji saw the seeds of the idea beginning to take root. It was time to back off. Pushing too hard would only make her resent the idea. "It's just a thought. There is another reason I am here. I wanted to ask a favor of you."

Utena was relieved at the change of topic. "I'd be happy to help out however I can."

"Excellent. There is something of a challenge match we have with the Imperial Academy. I met the Dean from there recently, and he was going on continuously about a student he has that is supposed to be an excellent fighter. The Dean's claim was that he is the best there is. Since, like you, I have such pride in our school, I could hardly let such a statement go unchallenged. I thought you might be willing to help out since you're the best fighter Ohtori has to offer. The only catch is, the match would be held at the Imperial Academy."

Pride swelled in Utena's chest. "I accept. It's time we showed everyone who the best school really is." Ohtori Academy had a tendency to be considered somewhat less prestigious than Blackhall or Whitehall, and less academic than the Imperial Academy, almost like a little sister to the other three. This would be a chance to show the Imperial Academy, at least, who had the better students. Besides, it would give Utena a chance to match her skills against someone new. She was surprised to find herself already wanting to meet whoever this 'best there is' person was.

Touga made his way to Utena's side. "I would consider it an honor to go with you."

Utena made a deft move to avoid the hand that was about to end up on her shoulder. Touga seemed to look for opportunities to come into contact with her (he was a touchy-feelie person, Miki once said in private when describing Touga), and every time he managed to brush against or place his hand upon her, a not altogether unpleasant tingling sensation made its presence known. Undoubtedly, that was how he had picked up other girls, and Utena could almost understand the appeal. However, unlike those other girls, she was able to resist his charms.

"Ah, I'm flattered by the offer," she told him. "But I think I'll pass."

"Oh, come now. Going into enemy territory alone would be foolhardy. Please allow me to accompany you. I am one of the best fighters here." Touga backed away from her, subtly moving in what he considered a graceful, yet alluring manner. At least that was what the other girls claimed when they composed poetry to him. He had the grace of a lion during the hunt, the girls would say. The guys tended to say 'Bishonen Jerkoff,' but never to Touga's face.

Off to the side, Nanami ground her teeth in irritation. Why was her brother being so insistent on accompanying that rude and impertinent cross-dresser? And how dare Utena refuse his wishes, not that Nanami wanted the two of them alone together for even a second. It had to have been Utena's doing. Somehow the wicked little low-born, weirdo had hooked her claws into her brother and enchanted him. Nanami had never seen Touga so fixated on any one girl like this. True, he spent time with many different girls, but he just used them to feed his ego and brushed them aside when he no longer desired their attentions. Touga didn't care about them the way he did Nanami. She knew she was special to him, just like he was special to her. None of those other girls were a threat, so as much as Nanami did not like them, so she ultimately ignored them.

However, Utena was proving herself different from the others. Not only did she appear resistant to Touga's charms, but now her brother was starting to demean himself. It was not just in his choice of romantic partner, but in his behavior as well. They were Kiryuus, one of the oldest, richest, and most prominent families in the entire empire. They had made a fortune in various business ventures and headed one of the most powerful zaibatsus in the Empire. Their grandfather had even been a close advisor to the Emperor, at least he was until he died at the age of ninety-five in the bed of two of his many mistresses.

Many of her grandfather's traits had been passed on to Touga, including a propensity towards decadence and women. That was one of the reasons Nanami kept such a close eye on him. She had to make sure no undeserving woman came too close to her brother, which was actually all of them. She was the only one that was worthy of his attentions. She knew it in her heart, which, lately, would beat faster when he was close to her, or when she trained with him. Surely that irresistible attraction, that burning desire that preyed upon her thoughts all day long, was felt by him. Sooner or later he would come to realize that. It would just take a while. Sometimes her brother was awful thick-headed about the obvious.

In the meantime, Nanami would have to take steps to ensure that Utena would be… unable to return her brother's affections. Obviously the trollop was playing hard to get, all but demanding her brother pursue her. Well, her teasing was going to cost her. Nanami would see to that. Already a plan was forming in her mind. Utena was going to be away from the school, and away from any assistance some of the others might give her should she be threatened. It would be the perfect opportunity for something bad to happen to her. And Nanami knew just who could take care of it.

Utena, unaware of Nanami's thoughts, decided to end Touga's insistence. "You raise a good point. It would be kind of stupid for me to go alone."

Touga smiled. At least he had her.

Utena looked at Touga, smiled, then said, "Hey Miki, want to tag along?"

Miki was surprised at the unexpected offer. "Uh…okay. I would consider it an honor too."

"I'll take Anthy along as well." Utena smiled sweetly at Touga. "I don't think it would be a good idea for you to be there. It really is beneath the president of the student council to attend such a small and insignificant fight. Why, the Imperial Academy people might think you have nothing more important to do here at the school."

Touga knew he had lost, but was too proud to show even the slightest indication that he had. There would be other times, and Utena's sharp wit was one of the things he liked about her. "You are correct. It was merely concern for you that I was showing. But if there is any one person in this school that can take care of themselves, it would the 'Prince of Ohtori Academy'." A little flattery about self-reliance never hurt. He bowed and headed downstairs. Nanami followed closely in his wake, shooting a glare at Utena before starting a casual conversation with her brother.

Fuji smiled. Utena's mind was as sharp as a sword. "Then it's settled. I'll have a car pick the three of you up outside the west gate after school in a couple of days. Be sure to bring your best bokken and not a sword. After all, this isn't going to be a death duel."

"I will," Utena said as the others began to filter out of the chamber. "Oh, Dean! I almost forgot. What's my opponent's name?"

"Ranma Saotome," he told her.

Utena smiled in appreciation and thanked Dean Fuji for choosing her to represent the school. Things certainly were happening quickly all of a sudden. Excitement began to build as she wondered what sort of boy this Ranma Saotome would be like.


	2. Chapter 2

Roses and Swords

A Quantum Destinies Side Story

Chapter 2

This is a story set in Jurai-Knight's 'Quantum Destinies' universe, and you will have to be familiar with that piece of work to follow this story. The events within take place some time after chapter nine of Quantum Destinies.

Standard Disclaimer:

The Quantum Destines universe is Jurai-Knight's. Many of the characters within are not. Revolutionary Girl Utena is also owned by someone else.

Any and all C+C is appreciated. You can contact me at

Roses and Swords is currently being stored at TH's page at:

.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Nanami Kiryuu straightened out her skirt, making certain she showed no more leg than would befit a girl of her social standing, while still displaying enough to catch a man's interest. It might not have been crucial, but every little bit helped. She knew she was attractive. She might have been a bit on the short side, but her shoulder-length hair complemented her above average figure perfectly. Her body was in great shape from the intensive workouts she regularly engaged in. And one thing Nanami Kiryuu was not afraid of was to show her figure off. Even as nice as it was now, she still had every reason to believe that as she got older, her frame would fill out even more, increasing the number of looks she already received from most men. Iizuka Takanoku, the person she was going to visit, was an example of such men.

Iizuka Takanoku was a pleasant enough individual. In spite of his obvious interest in her, he at least tried to maintain the appearance of being a gentleman. It was charming, in a way. Many of her suitors tended to be a great deal more forward in their attentions. When Nanami was in the mood, she would make the pretense of receiving them. If not, she would shoot them a cold glare or unleash a scathing word. Most of them would have the sense to go away, rebuked until she would give them a second chance to get back into her good graces. That would usually be dependent on whether or not she needed them for some task.

There had been a handful that had even been foolish enough to try to press the point. Regarding anyone that stupid as being inherently worthless, one of two things would happen to them. If Touga was around, Nanami would summon false tears, embellish what had happened, and allow him to defend her honor by beating up the offender. Those times were the best since afterwards he would hold and comfort her. The times when he was not around, she would take matters into her own hands and beat them up herself. It was easy. Growing up, she had studied under the same martial arts instructors her brother had. Her parents had not wanted her to do it, but Touga knew how much she had wanted to learn and had pleaded on her behalf. After some cajoling on his part, they accepted, and she had learned martial arts and sword fighting skills at his side. It had been like heaven. Now it was easy for her to beat up annoying men, especially with the additional training she had received in one of the Dean's advanced combat studies groups.

As to her fellow members of the Student Council, that was another story. Loathe though she was to admit it, the majority of them were better fighters than her. Of course, most of them were a year or two older, so at least she had hope for catching up to them. And if it was necessary, her brother could protect her, since he was the best fighter among them, or had been until Utena Tenjou showed up.

That was another unforgivable crime Utena was responsible for: usurping Touga's rightful position as the best fighter among the group. Nanami's thoughts turned darker as she remembered the one time she had tried to avenge her brother's loss by challenging Utena herself. It had not been much of a fight. In the end, the pink-haired girl spanked Nanami with her own bokken and sent her on her way; that was how easily she was defeated. Nanami had been unable to sit for a couple of days afterwards.

However, Utena was now going to pay for that and everything else she had done. And the best part of all was that Nanami was going to keep her hands clean of the whole matter. It was going to be a manipulation her brother would have been proud of, if she ever dared to mention it to him.

As Nanami walked towards Iizuka's, she took note that the rain that had been predicted had never shown and that it was turning into a pleasant day. Walking to the Takanoku estate had been a good idea. There were other reasons for going as she did besides the weather. Taking one of the family cars would have meant one of the drivers would know where she had gone. The fewer people who knew about her destination the better. Iizuka was devoted to her and would keep his mouth shut. So that meant the only people that would know she had ever visited him would be whatever servants happened to be there, and he could order them to silence as well. There was little chance that someone from Ohtori would meet him. He attended Whitehall Academy, not Ohtori.

In truth, it was only chance that the two had met. Nanami had gone to a party some middling noble had thrown and her parents insisted that she attend. As usual, both she and her brother had drawn a large gathering of admirers; admirers of both their looks and their wealth. It was as the party was winding down that Iizuka approached her. It had taken less then five minutes of idle talk for Nanami to determine that his interest in her was based more on her physical aspects rather than her monetary ones, especially since the Takanoku clan held as much financial influence as the Kiryuu.

Iizuka was somewhat attractive, and possessed refined manners that made Nanami decide she could accept his presence. Besides, someone with that much influence would be a useful ally to have. She feigned a small amount of interest in him, just enough to prod him into trying to impress her more. He had sent flowers the day after the party with a card telling her what a wonderful time he had. Since then, she had kept in touch with him, even going with him to a couple of high society functions so as to keep his level of interest in her high. The few times he tried to take things farther, she would deftly deflect him away with some excuse that he would inevitably accept. Now it was her turn to ask a favor of him.

Once Nanami arrived at the estate, she paused in front of the main gate and made certain her white and blue dress was immaculate. After ascertaining she was, she retrieved a mirror from her purse and examined herself closely, adding a bit of lip gloss to make herself look perfect. There was only one final touch to add to gain his compliance. She looked closely in the mirror at her calm and collected face. It was time to bring her rather impressive acting talents into play. She put on a depressed, almost tearful expression that made her look as though she had lost something important to her. It was somewhere between tears and just plain depression.

Iizuka was going to be eating out of her hand.

Nanami was greeted at the main gates by a guard, who immediately escorted her to the Takanoku mansion. It was the first time Nanami had been there during the daytime, and she found herself very impressed by it. It was every inch of what was regarded as the classic Imperial design for noble families, mixing both traditional and more modern architecture in what most considered a perfect gestalt. Loathe though she was to admit it, it was probably more impressive than her own home.

Upon arriving at the entryway, she was greeted by Iizuka himself. He was wearing a black, silk shirt and loose white pants, appearing quite dashing, Nanami admitted to herself. She would have been quite taken by his appearance if her heart had not already been won by her brother.

Iizuka dismissed her escort and gave a formal bow. It was a bit of a surprise to her that he had not commented on her expression first, but she figured that he had simply not noticed it yet.

Her guess appeared on the mark as his own happy expression at her arrival became one of surprise as he at last took note of her 'distress.' "What's wrong?" he asked.

Nanami cast her gaze downward, using just the right amount of reluctance as she said, "May I come in?"

Iizuka was next to her in an instant. He placed his arm around her shoulder and escorted her inside, giving small words of comfort to her as they made their way into the house.

Nanami saw that he was leading them to one of the spacious living rooms. That would not do. They needed to be somewhere that eavesdropping would be next to impossible. "Could we have some privacy?"

"Of course." He changed his destination from the living room to upstairs and his bedroom, a large room that was twice the size of most apartments in Tokyo. Still, it would serve Nanami's purposes since it was unlikely anyone else would be present.

They sat down together on the bed, Iizuka daring to hold her hand, though it was intended as nothing more than a gesture of comfort. Everything was working out just as she hoped. She decided it was time to go on to the next stage of the plan. Nanami gave a soft sniffle, then began her tale. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to intrude, but I've been so depressed that I just had to tell someone, and you were the first person that came to mind."

"You can tell me whatever it is," he assured her.

That brought an inward smile to Nanami. Iizuka was obviously moved by her admission.

She paused for dramatic effect, then continued. "It's just that there's been this girl at school. She's a new student that just transferred there a couple months ago. Since she was new, and from only a common bloodline, I was afraid she might become something of an outcast, so I tried to befriend her. Well, it worked, or so I thought. We hit it off very well, and I opened my heart to her, telling secrets I've never told anyone else. Things I wouldn't want others to know about, but since we were friends, I trusted her."

Nanami watched Iizuka nod in understanding. No doubt he was already coming to the conclusion she had hoped he would. Once she 'confirmed' his suspicions, that would make his agreeing with her plan all the more likely. "Well, it turned out she was doing nothing more than using me. Now she's blackmailing me by threatening to reveal the things I told her in secret. Some of them are about my family too. I don't want them to suffer for my mistakes."

Gauging the look on his face, Nanami decided it was time to go into the 'breakdown' part of the act. "Oh! How could I have been so foolish?! I was so stupid!" She began sobbing, only to have Iizuka hold her in an embrace.

"You weren't stupid. Just trusting. I'm not surprised. You're one of the nicest and most caring people I know. It's sick how that low-born used you for her own twisted schemes!"

Again, Nanami had to make an effort to keep from smiling. He was reacting even better than she had hoped. She had been certain she was going to have to lay on more tears to get him to agree with her.

"Have you told your family?" he asked.

"Oh no!" Nanami shook her head while remaining in his embrace. "I don't want them to know about my stupidity. I could never live with myself if they knew what a fool I'd been."

"I understand." Iizuka stood up, almost posing as he moved directly in front of her. Determination was written on his face as he declared, "You'd like me to confront her."

"No!" Nanami said quickly. She had to shift him back into her way of thinking, although he did have the right idea. "She's a thug. She's beaten people up before. If you tried to talk to, or threaten her, she'd just try to beat you up. I couldn't live with myself if she hurt you." She latched onto his hand and gave him a soft, almost lovelorn look for emphasis.

It worked. Iizuka was moved by her concern for his welfare. "All right. I won't go. What do you think I should do? Whatever you want, I'll do it."

"You once told me there was an ex-Arena fighter in your employ."

"Yes," Iizuka said. "He finished sixth in the Citizen Tournament twenty-two years ago. He was beaten by Jun Fan Lee. His name's Spirit Eagle. He's third-in-command of our bodyguards and completely loyal to my family."

"Spirit Eagle?" Nanami asked.

"He's originally from the western North American Prefectures." Iizuka didn't bother to mention that although the man was unquestionably loyal to the family, he was a violent person by nature. There was no need to unsettle Nanami further with talk of the man's brutality.

Nanami smiled. An arena fighter that good would be able to destroy a low-born like Utena. "I think he sounds powerful enough to do what needs to be done."

"You want him to intimidate her?" Iizuka asked. It sounded like a good plan.

"Actually, could you have him break her arms and legs?"

"WHAT?!" Iizuka exclaimed, looking at Nanami in shock.

Nanami hadn't counted on him being so squeamish. She began to cry in earnest, hoping to sway him with tears as much as words. "She's an evil person and very greedy and stupid too! She'll think it's just a threat and probably tell everyone what I told her! I'll be ruined!" Nanami began bawling in earnest.

After seeing her cry her heart out, Iizuka sat next to her again and embraced her. "Don't worry, Nanami. You're right. She's nothing more than a low-born commoner. I'll make sure she doesn't tell anyone. I'll even have Spirit Eagle break her jaw, just for good measure."

"Ohh," Nanami's eyes lit up. That would be a nice touch. "Would you do that for me?"

"Anything for you, Nanami-chan."

Nanami allowed that to slide. He had earned the right to call her that for a little while, but just in private and certainly never in the presence of Touga. "You're such a good friend." She even gave him a lovestruck look for good measure. After she knew she had him, she told him Utena's name and gave him a picture one of her associates had taken of the pink-haired girl. She then informed him of some information she had just happened to 'overhear' about Utena going to a duel, and how she'd be easy to beat after her match. Iizuka happily agreed to it and went about sending for Spirit Eagle. Nanami thanked him again and, after some small talk, left, promising they would get together next week when she had an opening in her schedule.

With her mission accomplished, Nanami practically danced all the way home. The thorn known as Utena Tenjou was about to be removed from her side for good.

xxxxxxxxx

"So, what's this I hear about you in some sort of challenge match after classes tomorrow?"

Ranma finished putting his books into his locker and turned to the sound of the voice, reprimanding himself for not hearing Nabiki come up behind him. He told himself he was going to have to be more aware of the people around him. Even with Anji and the rest of his fellow thugs expelled, he still got the feeling someone was watching him, and that made him uneasy.

"The Dean asked me if I wanted to participate in some sort of challenge match our school was having with Ohtori Academy," Ranma explained, while wondering where Nabiki had heard that he was going to be in a fight. He had just learned about it himself a couple of hours ago.

"I didn't see anything posted about a fight with Ohtori." Nabiki looked at Ranma suspiciously, her arms crossed as though she was daring him to contradict her.

"I dunno." Ranma shrugged. "I think it's some sort of special challenge. I guess they don't want a big crowd or something."

"Why?" Nabiki asked, the role of interrogator coming naturally to her.

Now Ranma was beginning to get upset. What he did on his own time was his business, and he despised being questioned in this manner. Nabiki wasn't his mother. "I don't know. He didn't say. He just asked if I was feeling up to a match and I said yes."

Nabiki saw the irritation in Ranma's expression and could not have cared less. If it was some sort of challenge match with a rival academy, why hadn't the Dean asked her to participate in it? Of course, Ranma was good, but she was better. That she was the one slighted and Ranma was getting angry about it made her temper flare slightly. "You shouldn't take such things lightly. You've done no research on who your opponent is. Do you even have his name?"

Nabiki's attitude was getting to Ranma further. As if he needed lectures in fighting from her. "As a matter of fact I do. Her name's Utena Tenjou."

A scowl creased Nabiki's brow. Ranma's opponent was a girl? That wasn't good. Ranma already had too many other women in his life, and most of them were hanging around him far too much already. Akane wasn't much of a threat, but the new Kuonji girl (who was not really Ranma's fiancee, Nabiki assured herself) was a growing hindrance. And then the snobbish Kunou girl was getting increasingly underfoot. The last thing she needed was the possibility of some strange girl from another school trying to get her hooks into Ranma as well.

Nabiki tried to think of what to do next. If this had been that other Nabiki's world, she probably could have talked that version of Ranma into letting her take the challenge, but her own version of the interesting youth had proven himself way too stubborn for his own good. There was no way she could call off the fight. She doubted talking personally to the Dean would do any good, even if she could convince him she was the better choice. At the moment, it appeared there was nothing she was going to be able to do to affect the situation. The most she could do was influence things slightly.

Nabiki said, "I'll try to get a background check on this girl and see how tough she is." And try to see if she had any boyfriends. Or was repulsive-looking. Or was a lesbian. Anything to see if she was a likely candidate to become interested in Ranma.

Ranma gave a grunt of disgust at her overprotectiveness. What did he have to worry about? It was only a girl he was fighting. "You're making too big a deal out of this. I'll fight her tomorrow after school, I'll send her packing back to Ohtori, and then it'll all be over."

Seeing Ranma was going to be intractable, she left rather than waste time trying to reason with him. There were times when she really wished the Ranma of her world had more of the qualities of the Ranma of the cursed-Nabiki's world. Now there was a boy who pretty much knew his place. Certainly he wasn't like the willful, stubborn mule-head that she had to deal with on an almost daily basis. And being obstinate quickly lost what little charm it might have held early on.

Nabiki's mind turned to other things, like how to get the information on the Utena girl on such short notice. There was someone she used to know that had transferred to Ohtori. Asking that girl for some information on Utena would probably be her best bet. And then she could have Sayuri look through the school's database on the name. Perhaps she could even have time after classes to go over and see what she could dig up on her own. One thing was for certain; she wasn't going to miss tomorrow's fight.

Ranma watched as Nabiki left without even saying goodbye. She really was acting weird lately. Imagine, getting all worked up because he was going to be in a fight. She was probably just jealous because she hadn't been picked. It was small surprise since Ranma had proven himself the better of the two. She did raise a point though, and he wondered what Utena might look like.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The next day found Utena Tenjou rushing up to the special limousine that Dean Fuji had sent to take her and her companions to the Imperial Academy. As she turned a corner, she came upon the vehicle and saw that the others were already there. Miki and Anthy stood outside while Dean Fuji waved from the window. Miki appeared only slightly impatient, tapping his foot on the ground, while Anthy stood there, blissfully smiling.

Miki's finger hit the top of his stopwatch. "You're fifteen minutes and thirty-seven seconds late, Miss Utena."

Still gasping for air, Utena looked Anthy and Miki over. Like her, both were in their school uniforms. Anthy was in her regular female Academy uniform, while Miki wore the more formal white and blue of the Student Council. Utena herself wore her usual black-colored male cadet's school uniform. She thought they would present at least an impressive looking envoy to the Imperial Academy.

"Sorry," Utena said, "I was running a little late from class and had to stop by my room to pick up my bokken and fighting clothes." She indicated the items over her shoulder: a small duffel bag contained the clothing, while the bokken was held by a loop of cord on it. "Then Touga just had to stop me and give some big speech about me representing the 'pride of the school'." Actually, it had just been an excuse for him to try to smooth talk her again. It was flattering —he was quite good at it, after all— but she was able to recognize it for what it was, which made the whole gesture on his part futile.

"Well, we'd better get going. We don't want to be late for the match," Miki said as he began his stopwatch again.

Utena just smiled as she and her compatriots entered the limousine. As the car started and their ride began, she found herself becoming increasingly excited about the prospect of proving herself outside the walls of Ohtori. Fighting with the other members of the Council was always interesting, but this was something altogether different. She was plunging into the unknown, and her heart was racing with the excitement. She hoped this Ranma Saotome was a good fighter. As excited as she was, it would be something of a disappointment if he turned out to be a pushover, like Kozue or Nanami were.

For the last two days the upcoming fight had been preying on her thoughts. She had even had a dream about standing triumphant over her foe, then helping him to his feet as he bowed before her in acknowledgment of her victory. Of course, it was more likely he would be seething in anger at his loss, like most of her opponents at the kendo and fencing tournaments ended up doing. It seemed like no one knew how to lose graciously anymore, or at least they were poor hands at pretending to hide it. If she lost, she knew she would accept it with courtesy and ask for a rematch. It seemed as if no one she came into contact with was very chivalrous. Life was turning out more disappointing than she ever would have believed.

Early in her life, when she was five or so, right after her parents death, she had been in deep mourning. There were no other family members to care for her, no aunts or uncles, which basically left her all alone. The government placed her within an orphanage, where she had problems from the first day she arrived. Her recent trauma made her standoffish towards the other children that had tried to become her friend. She simply refused to warm up to them. It didn't take long for them to ignore her as much as they could while she dealt with her problems. Life in the orphanage was miserable.

Utena was like that for several months, until she was looking through the small library on the premises and stumbled upon a book with a beautiful cover on it, featuring a handsome man on a big white horse. Curiosity got the better of her, and she began to read it. The story took place somewhere in Europe (she couldn't remember the country it had originated in) it was about a dashing young prince wanting to save a princess. Utena found herself captivated as the prince went through many tasks and trials before eventually rescuing the damsel in distress. However, it wasn't the princess Utena had identified with so much, but the prince himself. Even though he was a fictional character, he seemed so noble and caring that she found herself wishing someone had been like that with her when her parents had first died. If only someone had come along and helped her through her own situation, instead of her having to deal with her misery alone.

However, there had been no prince for her, nor for any others, it seemed. The world was lacking in them. That was when the idea formed in her mind. Years later, she would look back and wonder how a child of her age had come up with such an idea, and how it became so important that it ended up molding a large portion of her life, giving it the direction it now had. The idea really was quite simple. If there were no princes for her or others, then she would have to take matters into her own hands and become one. Not as a boy, of course, but as a girl. Princes could be girls too, or so she believed.

In pursuit of that childhood dream, Utena went on to read every book she could get of noble samurai, or foreign lords like the prince she had first read about, and endeavored to figure out just how she should act. As she got older, and after much trial and error, she thought she understood the concept pretty well. She tried behaving in a matter that she thought a prince would, trying to help others and protected those too weak to defend themselves. If someone seemed very depressed, or she was aware of some extraordinary hardship they had endured, she would go out of her way to try to cheer them up. If someone tried to push others around she would defend the oppressed. She never liked the accolades that sometime accompanied her actions, (she really felt uncomfortable being the center of attention) but understood that people were going to emulate her at times. The best she could do was accept the attention with grace and hope others would learn from her by example.

That attitude was why, after being in Ohtori for less than a week, Utena had to challenge Saionji to the duel. Almost from the instant she had arrived there, she began hearing others talk about the heartless things he did to those around him. The worst was when Utena had been looking out a third story window, only to witness him slap some girl in the face. Even from high above, Utena heard him laugh cruelly about how foolish the girl was in believing that he could be seriously interested in someone like her.

That was all it took. Utena raced down the stairs and confronted Saionji in front of everyone. It was impulsive on her part, but she could not tolerate that sort of behavior in anyone. She challenged him, and won. He then challenged her to a second match and had lost even more quickly.

How ironic it was that shortly after the second incident others dubbed her 'the Prince Ohtori.' After that, something of a fan club for her formed, in spite of the fact she preferred to wear the boy's style of uniform to school. She never really thought of it as cross-dressing, even if it technically was. She just found dresses and most other predominately female styles of clothing too confining and 'unprincelike'. Even if it meant being subjected to the occasional nasty rumor, she continued wearing either unisex or male-styled outfits the majority of the time. Besides, the boy's uniforms looked closer to what she thought a prince would wear, and it was not as though there were any explicit rules against it.

It was right after the first incident with Saionji that Utena had been called to Dean Fuji's office. At the time, she had been certain she was going to be reprimanded for her behavior, but instead he told her not to worry about the incident and that she had been selected to participate in an advanced physical training program. Utena was happy to accept, and quickly found herself pressed to the limit in physical endurance as she was worked hard by a variety of special classes and regimens.

It was shortly after the second incident with Saionji that she found herself slowly drawn into the circle that the Student Council moved in. At first, she had thought they were approaching her to seek vengeance for one of their own being defeated at her hands --nobles could be cliquish at times-- but that illusion was dispelled when it became obvious they were interested in her for herself, not in what she had done. Utena found that she too had been drawn to them, almost like a moth to a flame, though for the life of her she was uncertain why. They were not the sort of people she had liked to hang around in the past. Still, everything she had read indicated there was a higher fate, and it moved in mysterious ways. Perhaps it was some sort of destiny that she remain among them until such a time as she might be needed.

Or perhaps she would be given the opportunity to meet a prince of her own instead of acting as one for others.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Spirit Eagle continued stretching out as he prepared to leave for the Imperial Academy, Iizuka's orders still bringing a frown to his face. Life did not seem very good to him lately. He had not been in a decent fight in close to three weeks. It would have been longer, but he had actually found someone in Downside that had been able to give him a hard time for close to three minutes before he fell in the fight with Spirit Eagle.

Now he had what was shaping up to be a very boring evening. Spirit Eagle was being assigned the task of breaking some little schoolgirl as some kind of message to her. It really was a waste of his talents. The whole thing should have been given to one of the newer guards that had been assigned to help protect the Takanoku holdings, but instead his bosses were wasting their premier armbreaker on some snotty-nosed little kid.

Spirit Eagle broke off his exercises and headed to the one of the company's garage's to take one of the cars stored there. Being taxied around like some fat salaryman was one of the indignities he could barely tolerate. He had emphasized it enough that his 'masters' had allowed him to learn to drive.

Driving was all right, but it made him pine for the days when he rode horseback in the lands of his youth. There wasn't a single decent horse in all of the Empire. He began to consider asking if he could take a vacation in the lands of his youth. True, he had grown up in abject poverty, but there was something nice about the freedom he had there, and perhaps it would do him well to go back and remember what his past was like. Besides, he could brag to everyone about what a tough guy he had become in the empire, even if he had failed to attain citizenship. He was still a man all the others back in his old home should respect.

Spirit Eagle gave a long sigh. At times like this he missed the fighting in the Arena. Sure, it had been tough, exceptionally hard on the body, and the life on the inside wasn't great, but at least he had been taken to the limit regularly. Now, he was afraid he was going soft without a decent sparring partner around. After he incapacitated several of his fellow bodyguards early on, the Takanokus would not even let him spar with them anymore. The only place he could occasionally find decent fights was during the times he spent in the seedier sections of the Empire. And now he was reduced to being sent after school girls. He supposed there was some outside chance this Utena girl might actually be able to put up a decent fight. From what Iizuka said she was supposed to be a fighter of some repute, but being taught to fight in a school of noble snobs was a far cry from learning how to fight in the dog pits that led one to the main arena of the Empire, where only the best fought. That was where you learned how to spill a man's blood and enjoy it. The only thing this whole business had going for it was that he wouldn't have to hold back when he broke the girl's limbs and jaw. Still, it was ultimately going to be a boring night.

Life just wasn't fair some times.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Nabiki Tendou finished her last class and hurried to find Ranma. With any luck she was going to have plenty of time to locate him before he got ready for his match. If even half of the things she had heard from her friend from Ohtori were true, the Tenjou girl was going to be nothing but trouble. She was pretty enough to have half the male population of her school panting about her, apparently had several nobles from the most prominent families practically in heat as they pursued her, and had more than a handful of WOMEN swooning after her. Worse, she cross-dressed (and Nabiki began to worry that Ranma had a thing about that after the whole Kuonji situation came up), was definitely not a lesbian, and the absolute worst piece of news of all, had nothing resembling a boyfriend.

Oh yes, she was apparently a damn good fighter, too.

Whether Ranma won or lost his fight was no longer a concern; as insensitive as he had been lately, he deserved to be smacked around a bit. What concerned Nabiki was not if he would be hit by Utena, but if he would get hit upon by her. She had to be there to chaperone the fight and make certain the little hussy did not get any ideas about doing anything with her opponent other than beating him up. If she even looked longingly at Ranma, Nabiki would straighten her out as to exactly who Ranma belonged to.

Nabiki continued racing down the halls until she caught sight of Yohko. She slowed down long enough to wave as she went past, and was about to make it around the corner, when someone called out her name.

Nabiki came to a dead stop. The voice was one she wished she could forget. It was upperclassman Kenchi Funiyaki: the head of the Academy's Security Junior Directorate Program, and essentially her class supervisor. He was close to the top of Nabiki's list of 'people I do not want to run into, unless it is with a car.'

The two of them had a somewhat strained relationship from the first time they had met, largely because it was readily apparent Nabiki was smarter and more perceptive than Funiyaki. What was bad for Nabiki was that, although he was not as good as her, he was bright enough to realize that fact. Since then, he had taken what precautions he could in keeping her from overtaking him in some way. He was ruthless enough that he probably would have done something really bad to get her drummed out of the program altogether if he could have, but because of her father's position in the Directorate, that made such a setup all but impossible. So instead, he tried keeping her talents from being recognized by others by preventing her from getting in on any important projects. In turn, she had done everything she could to get around such blocks, while trying to get back at him. Lately, she had found herself too busy to deal with him. Likewise, since she was not butting heads with him, he did not go out of his way to have any contact with her. Until now.

Funiyaki had on a formal air about him as he approached Nabiki. "I'm glad I caught up with you. You left class so suddenly, Yurosaka didn't have a chance to tell you."

"Tell me what?" Nabiki was getting increasingly impatient to get to Ranma.

"There's a meeting of all the members of the Junior Directorate. Apparently one of the heads of the trainee program wants to see every member of the corps here in the Academy." Funiyaki's voice was disciplined and rigid, but there was a slight rolling of the eyes that Nabiki thought indicated irritation. No doubt it was because the whole meeting was going to be nothing more than an excuse for a bureaucrat to give a speech and make himself feel important.

"Ah, look," Nabiki said. "I've got some important things to do, so maybe I'd better skip the meeting."

"It's mandatory."

Nabiki caught the faint hint of a smile on his face. It figured he would enjoy upsetting her plans, even if it was nothing more than a coincidence that allowed him to do it. There really was no choice at all. If the meeting was mandatory, she would have to attend. Otherwise she would be immediately drummed out of the program. And knowing how long the administrators usually took, she was not going to be free for hours. Still, someone needed someone to keep an eye on Ranma.

Nabiki turned to Yohko. "Look, since I'm going to be busy, I need you to do something for me."

"Sure. What is it?"

Nabiki gave her a brief set of orders to stay after school to watch the challenge match, and to keep an eye on Ranma afterwards. Nabiki told Yohko that the latter reason was so that she knew what shape Ranma was in, and so she would know what odds to set for his next fight. In reality, it was nothing more than a spy job to make sure nothing happened between him and Utena. It was going to be the best she could do under the circumstances.

"And you'd better behave, Ranma, or else," Nabiki muttered under her breath as she followed Funiyaki to the meeting.

Ranma found himself starting to become anxious as he finished changing and made his way down to the practice area in the field where the fight was going to take place. Maybe Nabiki had the right idea in doing a little background research about his opponent. As it stood now, he had no idea of what the girl he was going to face even looked like. He found himself wondering if she would be cute. Most of the girls in both his current and 'other' lives that knew martial arts were very attractive. However, at some point, his luck was going to run out and he was going to meet someone that was not going to be quite so…visually appealing.

Ranma noted that Dean Fuyutsuki and Coach Fujinami were already in attendance at the field. The Dean was looking down from the bleachers while the Coach stood next to the area where Ranma and Nabiki had their series of sparring matches. It seemed like only yesterday the two of them had tried to find out who the better warrior truly was. Of course, he was the better fighter, as the real match they fought had proven, but Nabiki was more than good enough to train with him. He still felt himself taken to the limit each time they fought. Now he wondered if his mysterious opponent would be the same. Not that he had any doubt he would win, he was just curious as to how tough she would be.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Coach Fujinami walked up to Ranma. Like the younger boy, he was becoming excited at the prospect of showing a rival school who the best really was. After all, Ranma was his protégé, and the accounting he gave of himself would reflect directly on the coach and his training methods. Besides, he had already met one of the coaches from Ohtori the day before and had made a forty thousand yen wager that Ranma was going to win. The skills with which Ranma fought, the perfect coordination with which he moved, all but guaranteed he would win the fight.

Ranma had damn well better win the fight.

The coach placed a comforting hand on Ranma's shoulder. "Just a few pieces of advice, kid. Whatever you do, don't get cocky. This girl's won a couple of kendo tournaments, and some of those fight trainers at Ohtori aren't too bad. She's probably got at least a couple of moves you should watch out for."

Ranma's confidence began to swell. So, she was a kendoist. Well, he certainly knew how to handle those. Kunou was supposed to be one of the best, and Ranma could take him in under a minute. He began to wonder how Utena would compare to the bokken-wielding twit.

Coach Fujinami backed off, giving Ranma one last, 'You'd better not lose' comment before returning to his place outside of the fight circle. He watched on as Ranma began doing some exercises to loosen up in preparation for the match.

In his place in the bleachers, Dean Fuyutsuki double-checked his data recorder unit, intent on showing off the findings at the next meeting, should Ranma win his match. Having what would be the current number one Adam and Eve in the project would make him the envy of all the others. He would be the one they had to pay attention to as Fuyutuski would relate his findings. He might not have been a glory-seeker by nature, but even he had his pride.

However, there was a chance he was jumping the gun. If things did not go as planned, Fuytusuki would be the one sitting down while Professor Fuji took all the glory and proclaimed the child from his project the best in the entire program. As much as he got along with Fuji, that was still a very undesirable position. This was a match for bragging rights. Fuji might have come up with it, but Fuyutsuki was all for it now.

Dean Fuyutsuki thought that, for Ranma's sake, he had better not fail.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

A half-hour passed, and the time of the match came and went. Ranma tried continuing to stretch out to stay loose, but he was quickly becoming bored with the situation. Both the dean and his coach appeared just as mystified at the delay. Ranma began looking around the empty field, trying to find something interesting to see. It was as he glanced back at the Academy that he thought he caught sight of one of Nabiki's associates hanging around. Now that he thought about it, it was unusual that Nabiki was not present for the fight, since she had been so annoyingly insistent upon attending it. Ranma wondered if Nabiki had changed her mind and thought the fight would have been boring, and had sent the other girl to watch it in her place. That got his blood pumping a little bit. He had sort of wanted to show off again to her who the better fighter was, but now she was feeling so snubbed by Dean Fuyutsuki's choice of representative for the school, that she had not even deigned to show herself. How stuck up.

Dean Fuyutuski looked at his watch again. He had been certain he had copied down the correct time for the challenge. He was about to give Professor Fuji a call, when he saw a couple of people approaching in a near run from the near side of the field.

Ranma noticed them too and looked them over as they approached. The first was a girl whose skin was so dark Ranma thought she might be from India. She was wearing a blue and white dress with a skirt that came down all the way to her calves. A pair of glasses were on her face, and from what he could see of her lower arms and legs, wondered how this could be the girl he was supposed to fight. She was way too skinny, and her muscle tone was a joke. Even the way she ran cried out the girl was no fighter. There was no way she could give him a decent match.

Turning his attention from her, Ranma examined the boy that was walking quickly alongside her. He was wearing a distinguished-looking white uniform with blue pants that appeared even more immaculate than the normal outfit Ranma wore to school. Unlike his female companion, he walked with the grace of one who knew how to fight, and fight well. Ranma found himself wondering if some kind of last minute substitution had taken place and the boy was to be his new opponent. Ranma noted the dark-haired youth lacked any outward sign of a weapon. The only item he seemed to have was what appeared to be a stopwatch he held in his hands.

The boy was still looking at the watch when he paused several feet outside the ring. As he stopped, his finger hit the button. "We're forty-one minutes and seventeen seconds late," he announced to the world, the sound of exasperation in his voice.

The girl next to him said, "Don't worry, Miki. We're not too late."

Ranma was going to ask them what was going on when another girl ran from the direction the others had come to and towards the combat ring. She was dressed in a black uniform that was every bit as formal-looking as the outfit that the boy had worn, and wore red shorts that came down almost to her knees. A bokken was looped through a strap on the back of a duffel bag that she had slung over her shoulder. Her form appeared to be somewhat slender, though it was hard to be certain since the uniform she had on flared a bit at the top. He could see by the outline of her rather form-fitting shorts that the muscles on her legs were well developed, although not too bulky. That, combined with the shorts, accentuated her long legs. In a way, they reminded him of Kodachi's, save that this girl was several centimeters taller than her. Ranma figured she had to be his opponent. He could tell by the way Utena ran that she too was a trained fighter. There was no wasted motion, and she had a tension to the body that told one who knew how to look for such things that she could react to any perceived threat in an instant.

Taking the girl in all at once, he thought the most unusual thing about her was the long mane of pink hair that went almost half-way down her back. The first thing that went through his mind was a thought that this girl might somehow be related to Shampoo. Then he got a good look at the girl's face.

"Whoa," Ranma found himself saying under his breath. She was actually very good-looking, even if the outfit she was wearing did look like it was more suited for a guy than a girl. Still, it did somehow appear appropriate on her, augmenting her already good looks as opposed to detracting from them. It was kind of the same way it worked with Ukyou, though he admitted no one was ever going to mistake the pink-haired girl for a guy. There was no way her chest was bound, and her looks were obviously feminine.

The girl pulled up to a stop right next to the two that had arrived before her. "Well," she gasped. "We were only a half-hour late."

"We were forty-one minutes and seventeen seconds late," Miki corrected. "You were forty-one minutes and forty-eight seconds late."

"Oh? Let me see." The new girl held out her hand towards the watch. Miki handed it to her. She clicked the top of it once, examined it carefully, then clicked again. "It looks like it's broken to me."

"WHAT?!" Miki snatched the watch out of her hands and began pressing the button.

The pink-haired girl laughed. "Oh, Miki, I was only teasing. You need to relax." She watched him test the watch a few times before breathing a sigh of relief. Once she was sure he had calmed down, and was not going to hold the joke against her, she turned to look at Ranma. She behaved as though she had been completely unaware of him up until that point, something Ranma took note of. "Oops! Where are my manners?" She turned to her companions, indicating Miki first. "This is Miki Kauru, first year cadet and member of the Ohtori Academy Student Council."

Miki gave a formal bow to Ranma, which he returned in kind. Ranma took note that the boy almost seemed to be evaluating him even as he looked the Imperial Academy cadet over.

"And this is first year cadet, Anthy Himehiya."

The dark-skinned girl bowed before Ranma and said hello. Unlike Miki, she had a placid look to her that lacked the hint of anything other than a gentle smile. Ranma bowed to her.

"And I'm Utena Tenjou." The bow might have been formal, but the smile she gave Ranma was more of a sheepish grin than anything else. It sort of reminded him of the two versions of Ryouga his other selves knew, and he halfway expected her to place her hand behind her head and chuckle at him. The smile though, whereas on Ryouga it looked sort of goofy, on the girl it seemed just right. It gave her an easy-going demeanor that put Ranma at ease. He smiled back and was rewarded with an even greater smile on her part, and he found himself wishing she would keep right on smiling the entire time. Not only that, but he thought he could detect just the faintest hint of some scent in the air that excited him. It sort of resembled the one he could smell around Kodachi, and wondered if Utena wore the same kind of perfume as his aristocratic friend.

It was as he was enjoying both the sight of the girl, and that pleasant odor, that her name finally struck. Utena Tenjou. This was the girl he was going to be fighting. He shook his head free of the warm feelings that had come over him. There would be time after the fight to admire her. Right now she was the opponent he was going to have to beat.

Utena's demeanor was still easy-going. "Sorry about being late. I hope you didn't have to wait long."

"Nah," Ranma said. "It's no big deal."

Ranma noticed the girl's attitude shift slightly. There was a sudden seriousness about her as she said, "Why don't I get changed and then we can start the match?"

"Sounds good." Ranma looked after her as she headed for the girl's locker room. She was more than halfway there when he realized it was more like Utena's posterior he had been staring at than the girl herself. He shook his head free of such thoughts again, grateful Nabiki wasn't around to catch him doing that. Not that it was any of her business who he stared at and what parts of people's anatomy he chose to look upon.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Professor Fuji, the dean of Ohtori Academy, made his way up the bleachers to sit next to Fuyutsuki. "Sorry about how late we were. There was a good bit of road construction on the way over, and we got caught in the rush hour traffic."

Fuyutusuki nearly hit himself in the head for such a glaring oversight. "I should be the one apologizing. I forgot to warn you about that."

"Don't worry about it. We're here and the match is about to start. That's all that matters." Fuji pulled out a portable data recorder that was identical to Fuytsuki's own. Fuji gave it a test run to make certain it was working properly. Once he was convinced it was, he settled down and waited for Utena to make her appearance so that the match could start.

The wait was brief as Utena came out of the building and approached the fighting area. She had changed into a very informal-looking white T-shirt and black shorts that were only slightly shorter than the pair that she usually wore with her school outfit. The usual red and black Chinese-style outfit Ranma wore was not exactly formal either, so seeing her in normal attire for this somewhat impromptu match-up relaxed him a bit.

Utena began stretching out, preparing for the fight. Ranma found himself comparing her to Nabiki, remembering how his 'rival' would stretch out in a similar manner right before the two of them sparred. Although what Utena wore was a tad tighter than most of the things Nabiki tended to wear. Once again he was glad she wasn't present to harass him about the way he was sizing up the competition, which was all that he was doing.

Really.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

As Utena stretched out, she finally took a moment to examine her opponent closely. Before, she had been too nervous at having arrived late to do anything other than feel embarrassed, but now that she had a chance to warm up, she took full advantage of the opportunity to look her opponent over. Ranma was only a few centimeters taller than her, though he had an obvious weight advantage which, if Utena wasn't mistaken, was all muscle. It was hard to tell since the red top and black pants he wore were slightly loose. There was no weapon around him, meaning he was probably a hand-to-hand fighter. That also meant she would have a reach advantage, but would need to avoid him trying to grapple with her. She was willing to wager that he would underestimate her wiry strength, like most of her opponents did. That might give her a trump card to play on him later, though if he was any good, a sudden burst of strength on her part to break out of a hold would only work once.

Utena watched as Ranma began to limber up. He was flexible, that was certain, and he had a face that was pleasing to the eye. Not that she did not know a lot of good-looking guys, but Ranma's was different. There was a lot of confidence there, but not in the manner that the nobles held. Even Miki possessed that haughty look of 'noble superiority', although to a much lesser degree then the others. She supposed it was something they were taught as children.

To Utena's eye, Ranma did not look like that. He displayed a kind of easy-going confidence that lacked the arrogance the nobles possessed. Utena wondered if he was sort of like her. At the very least, he represented a change of pace from the amount of formality that usually accompanied both the duels and the duelists she regularly fought. And he had the cutest butt she had seen in a long…

It was her turn to shake her head clear of such thoughts. She had to mentally prepare herself to beat the hell out of the guy to prove herself, and her school, superior to his. Now was a time for action, not admiration. Even if he did look awful cute. She'd have to try to avoid hitting him in the face.

Utena finished warming up and moved to the side of the circle opposite Ranma. He stopped stretching out as well and stood, facing Utena. She had her bokken drawn, holding it in her right hand while keeping it pointed to the ground. Ranma was not fooled by the relaxed posture she had. That bokken could come up in a flash and block any attack aimed at her. He had enough familiarity with kendo to recognize that.

The coach moved in-between the two and gave them a brief version of the rules of the fight. Victory was gained by either knockout, submission, when one foe was rendered insensate, or if the coach called a stop to it. After both acknowledged the rules and bowed, he got out of their way and told them to begin.

Ranma brought up both fists and held them before him while Utena held her bokken in front of her, the tip pointed ever so slightly towards the ground. He watched Utena's eyes intently, waiting for her to make the first move. Most of the people he fought, both in his life and that of the duplicates in his mind, always seemed to throw the first punch. However, he was the one that always threw the last one.

Surprisingly, Utena remained where she was, watching Ranma even as he watched her. When it became obvious neither was going to launch any sort of attack right away, they began to move, circling one another as each looked for some sort of opening in their opponent.

They made a complete circle twice before Utena made the first move. She tested Ranma's defenses with a quick double thrust meant to gauge his reaction time. He easily got out of the way of the first one, and the second that followed on the heels of that. It was his turn to counterattack as he lashed out with a fist towards her head. She read the move correctly as a feint and cut to her left, avoiding the kick that was the real attack.

Ranma evaluated her as being superior to Kunou, not that that was going to make a difference in the end. All it meant was that he was going to have to be more cautious. The two traded feints and attacks until Ranma at last saw Utena extend herself too far on a blow aimed for his head. He found himself inside her guard and connected lightly with a fist to her shoulder. There was no chance to follow up the attack as she surprised him by landing a strike to his head with her elbow, then followed up with a reverse thrust kick into his midsection. His reaction was more out of instinct than cognizant thought as he thrust upward with his palm and landed a solid blow to her jaw. A loud crack met his ears as her neck snapped back and teeth slammed together. She backed up, keeping her bokken up and at the ready.

Both opponents looked at each other with new respect. There was not going to be a quick victory to be had on this day.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In their seats in the stands, Fuyutsuki and Fuji looked on. Both opponents were locked in combat, neither one giving quarter as the number of blows began to mount up on both sides.

"This is turning into everything I had hoped it would be," Fuji said as he kept one eye on the fight and one on his readings. Even in his prime, he could never have hoped to match either one of them. His, and the others', creations were nearly perfect.

"Indeed," Fuyutsuki said. He was not quite as excited at the closeness of the fight, having seen both Ranma and Nabiki in action on several occasions. Utena's style was certainly different from either of the other two, but what really had him anxious was to see Ranma victorious over the Tenjou girl. The number one male and female child in the project would be his, at least for a little while. Even he was susceptible to desiring the top children of the project being under his observation, and to a lesser degree, control.

"Your Ranma is turning out to be quite a surprise," Fuji added. "Is the Tendou girl as gifted a fighter?"

"Naturally." Fuyutsuki winced as Ranma took a nasty blow to the kidneys, courtesy of Utena's bokken. His follow up kick to Utena's chest evened it out, though.

"I might want Utena to fight Nabiki sometime. After she beats Ranma, of course."

Fuyutsuki's eyebrows darted up at that. "I wouldn't be so sure of that if I was you."

Fuji brushed off the warning. "Nonsense. You forget, I have the trained eye of a fighter. She's better than him. And unless she slips on a banana peel, she'll come out on top."

"Don't underestimate Saotome," Fuytsuki insisted. "He finds a way to win. Besides, I might not have served in the Security Directorate, but I have a fair eye when it comes to evaluating hand-to-hand. Your girl's good, but Ranma will be the one standing at the end."

"How about a little wager on that? Say, the loser bows out of the competition for the Yurisoko Memorial Competition?" Fuji's eyes fairly gleamed in challenge.

Fuytusuki considered that. The Yurisoko Memorial was a recent monument the Emperor was having erected in honor of those soldiers whose lives had been lost abroad and their bodies never recovered. One school was going to be allowed to present an honor guard at the opening ceremony. The competition for the event was going to be cut-throat, given the prestige of the occasion and that the Emperor himself was going to put in a rare public appearance there. One less competitor would only improve the Imperial Academy's position.

"You're on."

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Ranma found himself becoming increasingly excited as the fight progressed. The struggle between them was becoming more intense, and his desire for victory matched the increase in tempo. The girl was coming almost as close to pressing him to the limits as Nabiki did. It quickly became obvious that she had training that far extended past simple kendo. She was well-versed in several forms of hand-to-hand as well, and had incorporated them into a rather unique style of combat. It was no Anything-Goes, but still the style served to challenge him.

Curiously, he was finding himself also becoming aroused the longer he fought with the pink-haired girl. Something similar happened to him when he had fought both Akane and Nabiki, and he wasn't quite sure what to make of it. He knew he had never felt it with any of the guys he had fought. Kunou, Mikado, the Wolf Pack. Nor had it ever happened in either of his counterparts lives. None of them had sent the sort of tingle through his being that was present when he had fought the girls. It wasn't that he enjoyed fighting them, but it was more like a heightened degree of excitement that encouraged him to victory. It was probably something that had to do with them giving him the hardest fights, although Akane was only difficult in the beginning.

A bokken thrust came close to his head and he backed off slightly. Utena was very good. She was also intense, but he thought he saw a smile during several slower moments in the fight. It was not a smile that was cruel, but rather one that seemed to hint that she was enjoying the fight, as though she was having fun at being taken to the limit by him as well. That was an unusually empathic feeling on his part, but any further thoughts on that subject were dismissed as Utena attacked him in a blinding flurry of bokken thrusts that he was forced to temporarily retreat from.

Utena was surprised herself as the first hint of feelings, similar to those she had when she fought the guys back at Ohtori, started to assert itself. It was a sort of arousal, she thought, but not one so intense that it affected her ability to fight. It was exactly the opposite; her thoughts became more focused as she sought victory over her opponent.

She was surprised at the burning desire to defeat the youth in front of her, especially since he had done nothing to offend her and, unless she was a poor judge of character, seemed to be a nice guy. There was something about the smile he had given her when they were first introduced, one that made her instinctively think he was unlike most of the guys she knew. Perhaps afterwards she would approach him and see if he was going out with anybody. Aside from that, talking with him would give her a chance to see if he really was a nice guy, as she suspected, or an egotistical jerk like Saionji was. After she knocked his butt out, of course.

The fight continued on for several more minutes. They began to sweat and their breathing became more rapid as they continued to attack and defend against one another. Several times each landed a number of blows on their opponent, but neither one was able to capitalize on it as the other would defend themselves too well and find a way to recover. The fight continued on with neither fighter gaining a clear advantage.

Then Ranma thought he saw an opening. It was small, but might make the difference in the fight. The tip of her bokken was pointed away, and, if he moved fast enough, Ranma would have one good shot at her head. He raised his fist back and aimed for Utena's head. The opening in her defense remained as she drew back her bokken and prepared to swing. Like a blur, he brought his fist forward and…

…suddenly found it stopping in mid-motion. He was in shock, trying to figure out who had stopped his arm, but a side glance showed there was nothing there. No hand, foot, or even wire. It was some sort of invisible force that was so powerful he could not even bring his fist one millimeter forward, despite having the full use of his muscles to him.

That stop was the only opening Utena needed. She was on him in a split second as her bokken found its way into his stomach, doubling him over. The force that had prevented his fist from going forward left just as quickly as it came, but he had no chance to recover his bearings as a knee followed the bokken thrust. It found its way into his lowered chin, making stars swim before his eyes. Blindly, he lashed out with a fist, connecting with Utena's shoulder. However, the previous two blows had taken their toll, and there was very little force behind the punch. Utena was not even slowed down as she brought her bokken crashing down onto his back, bringing Ranma to his knees. He tried to get up, but a last blow to the back of his head from the hilt of Utena's weapon knocked Ranma unconscious.

It was over.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Professor Fuji stood up and applauded as Dean Fuyutsuki sat there in shock. Ranma had lost? How had that happened? He had been certain that Ranma was going to win. He had seen the young boy in combat with Nabiki Tendou on a multitude of occasions, yet he had managed to fight Utena for just over five minutes before falling to her. And she had made it look easy too. Now he was going to have to put up with Fuji's cooing about having one of the top two children in the project. And the absolute worst thing about this was going to be the withdrawal from the Yurisoko Memorial Competition. It was a disgrace Fuytusuki would not tolerate. The whole situation was Ranma's fault. The boy was going to be training extra hard in the days to come to make up for what had obviously been a poor performance.

The intensity of Coach Fujinami's scowl would have been enough to scare off even a hungry tiger. How dare Saotome humiliate him that way by falling to the Ohtori girl in less than six minutes. It was a slap in the face to Fujinami and all of his training. He was now out a considerable sum of money and would have to put up with the bragging of his associate at Ohtori for months now. It was all Ranma's fault, and Fujinami was going to make him pay by toughening him up even further. No one stayed soft under the tutelage of Masato Fujinami. No one.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Utena raised her bokken to the sky, victory at last hers. She did not remain that way for long as she came down from her emotional high and began to relax. Fuji applauded from the stands as Anthy and Miki came over to congratulate her. Having a moment, she looked Ranma over. His breathing was regular and he didn't seem too badly pounded on. When she had hit him with the last blow and knocked him out, she had made certain it was neither too hard nor vicious. It was obvious he could not take any more and she would never be excessively violent. Ranma might have seemed to be a nice guy, but even that was no defense against falling to her superior might. No one beat Utena Tenjou. Not even Ranma Saotome.

And Ranma just laid there, slowly breathing face down in the dirt.


	3. Chapter 3

Roses and Swords

A Quantum Destinies Side Story

Chapter 3

This is a story set in Jurai-Knight's 'Quantum Destinies' universe, and you will have to be familiar with that piece of work to follow this story. The events within take place some time after chapter nine of Quantum Destinies.

Standard Disclaimer:

The Quantum Destines universe is Jurai-Knight's. Many of the characters within are not. Revolutionary Girl Utena is also owned by someone else.

Any and all C+C is appreciated. You can contact me at

Roses and Swords is currently being stored at TH's page at:

.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"You've done well, little grasshopper."

Utena smiled at Dean Fuji's rather weak attempt at a joke. True, she was something of his protégé, having been accepted at Ohtori due to his personal recommendation, but others had taught her as well, especially when it came to fighting. Miki and Anthy continued complimenting her on her victory as well. The accolades felt nice, but they were also starting to make her feel slightly uncomfortable. Something wasn't quite right.

Utena afforded a glance towards the now conscious Ranma Saotome. He had not remained knocked out for long, less than a minute. Now that he was awake, he seemed cognizant of everything around him, which was probably not a good thing. From the instant he had regained consciousness, Coach Fujinami and Dean Fuyutsuki were upon him, letting him know that he had failed his school and that there would be a price to pay for his mistake. Utena thought she caught the phrase, 'training day and night' in the diatribe somewhere. She suddenly had a great deal of sympathy for her opponent.

Ranma appeared shamefaced at his loss as well. He listened closely to what was being yelled at him, his attention going back and forth between the men as they took turns berating him. However, he did manage one glance in Utena's direction. The scowl he leveled at her quickly softened when he saw the look of sympathy on her face. He wasn't able to do anything else as Coach Fujinami turned up the volume when he took his turn to yell at Ranma again. Utena thought she now heard 'any wimp can do five hundred pushups in an hour. You can do a thousand from now on.'

It definitely sucked to be Ranma Saotome.

Neither Dean Fuyutsuki nor Coach Fujinami continued their tirade for overlong and Ranma was dismissed to the showers. Utena again watched with sympathy as he left. She wasn't sorry she had defeated him; it had been a fight for school pride that she had wanted to win. The only thing she felt sorry about was the unduly harsh punishment he was receiving because of his failure.

There was also one other thing that bothered her. At the time it had occurred, she missed what had happened. The fight had been so intense that her reactions had been instinctive. She instantly went for any opening that was there and tried to exploit it. But now that she had a chance to think, there was one point in the fight that had seemed unusual. Utena had feinted a hole in her defense in the hopes that Ranma would try to take advantage of it and leave himself open to the counterattack. It was a move with some risk; if she had not covered the feint, he would have connected with her face. However, she had been confident she would be able to move out of the way of the blow in time and counterattack through the hole in his defenses that would have appeared from the failed attack. It had seemed to work, when, for the briefest of seconds, Ranma froze in the middle of the attack. That opening had been all that she needed. Victory was hers upon that single error Ranma had made.

Except maybe it had not been an error. Utena remembered a time when something similar had happened before, in her second fight with Touga. A low sweeping thrust in Utena's direction, one that probably would have connected, had never met as Touga seemed to freeze up for a second in mid-swing. Again, as with this fight, Utena reacted to the unexpected save and counterattacked, dispatching Touga less than thirty seconds later. It was only afterward, when Touga complained of something odd happening in the fight, that he and Utena had pieced together what had happened. Anthy had used her telekinesis to interfere in the fight.

Later, Anthy swore she had not meant to, and that it had just slipped because she had wanted Utena to win (and that admission had irritated Touga to no end, since Anthy had not done the same in his first fight with Utena). It was only after Anthy apologized, and promised not to let it happen again, that Utena forgave her. Shortly afterwards, Utena and Touga had their rematch in private. She won that one as well, but the fact that her first victory had been tainted ended up souring the rematch. She had truly believed Anthy was repentant, but if that was what had happened on this day, then Utena had not truly won her fight. Again.

Utena did not want to embarrass Anthy unnecessarily by making such an accusation in front of everyone, and it might have simply been Ranma had made a mistake in the fight, but she had to be sure. Since asking Anthy directly felt too rude --especially if Utena's suspicions were wrong-- she chose to attack the problem from a different angle.

Excusing herself from the others and claiming she needed a shower (which was the truth), Utena left them and went into the gymnasium. As she had hoped, the men's showers were located near the women's. Now she had a decision to make. It wasn't likely that Ranma had been in the shower all that long, meaning the wait might be for a while. On the other hand, if she tried to take a quick shower of her own, and he proved to be one of those guys that ran the water over themselves once and thought they were clean (she added a mental 'yuck' to that), then he might leave before she had a chance to ask him any questions.

There was one other choice Utena had, but it wasn't really an acceptable one. It would guarantee she would get a chance to talk with Ranma, but if someone saw her do it, her actions could very easily be misconstrued. In fact, it was almost certain that they would be. A part of her mind told her she should not have even considered it; she simply was not that sort of girl. However, she really did want to talk to Ranma, and it was the surest way to get the job done. The idea that the fight had not been fair was eating away at her, and she was becoming more convinced by the moment that something had happened. They had not fought long, but it seemed nearly impossible that someone as skilled as Ranma would have made such a blundering mistake so early in a fight.

Utena took a quick look around the gymnasium. It was after school hours, and there were no school athletic teams having practice, nor were there any other people using the facility. There wasn't even a janitor around. The whole place was empty, meaning that no one would ever know if she did it. Yes. Maybe she should go ahead with her idea. No one would be hurt, after all. And no one other than Ranma would ever know what had happened.

With that reassurance in mind, she headed into the men's shower.

xxxxxxxxxxx

Yohko kept under cover as best as she could while following Utena. The day had proven itself very interesting so far. She realized Nabiki was not going to be pleased that Ranma lost to the Ohtori girl. She also figured that since Ranma had beaten Nabiki in their public fight, and Ranma fell to Utena, others would begin to imply that Utena was better than Nabiki. And given that Nabiki had been showing a great deal of pride in her recently revealed fighting skills, it was almost certain that she would set up some kind of fight with Utena. Given how fast Ranma had fallen to the pink-haired girl, Yohko was not sure her money would be on her boss this time around.

Yohko had just made it into the gymnasium, using the bleachers for cover, as she followed Utena. There was a point where she had almost been seen as Utena made a quick look around the gym. Yohko recognized it as an 'I'm going to do something that I don't want anyone else to know about so no one had better be here' glance. Yohko could read people like a book with all the spying she had done for Nabiki over the last couple of years. Her guess was rewarded as she watched Utena take one more furtive glance before heading into the men's side of the showers.

Nope. Nabiki was not going to be pleased at all.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Ranma allowed the hot water to splash across his face, wiping away the last vestiges of grime that had been left behind from his sweat. Not that there had been much of a chance to sweat, not with how short the fight had been. Never, not in any of his memories, had he been defeated so thoroughly in so short a time. Not without somehow being tricked or having some sort of drug or magic used against him. Yet it had been a clean loss to someone that he should not have lost to. Utena might have been tough, but he had been confident he could have taken her. She was a girl, and although he had dropped a match or two to Nabiki, those had been flukes. He proved that in the real fight they had. And now this Utena girl had come along, not even specialized in the Anything Goes (at least he could admit that was part of why Nabiki was so good) and had beaten him in less time than it took to run a diagnostic test on his resonator.

Well, there had been one odd thing that had occurred during the fight. That one instance where his fist had been stopped in mid-swing without anything being there. No one had interfered, and it had not appeared that Utena had done anything. Perhaps if someone had hurled a thin wire around his wrist, that might have done it, but it had not felt like something had been looped around it nor were there any marks to indicate such had happened. It was as though some sort of force had seized his whole arm and forced it to stop. Then it went away the moment he was struck by Utena. That had been the turning point in the fight, and what had eventually caused him to lose.

The hot water continued to course over Ranma as he looked down at his hand. There was no visible sign of anything having been done to it. There was a slight cut from where Utena had blocked a blow of his with her bokken, but that was nothing. It had not felt as though he had been drugged. And besides, what sort of drug made your fist stop in mid-motion and did nothing else? He began to wonder if perhaps he was just making some kind of excuse for losing the match.

Even as the loss continued to settle in, Ranma swore he would not take it lying down. Repeatedly, he told himself he was going to train day and night to take the girl in another fight, not that Dean Fuyutsuki and Coach Fujinami were going to let him stop. Their combined reprimands assured him that he would be practically living at the school in order to build up his fighting skills and stamina further. That would mean he would have even less time and energy to devote to getting his father back from the world he was currently trapped in. Dean Fuyutsuki was going to be even less inclined to listen to any pleading on Ranma's part to be allowed to use his resonator once more. And then there was the ever increasing number of women in his life that took up even more of his time. All of them seemed to want to spend time with him, and were becoming increasingly demanding that he spend more time with each of them. Sometimes he wondered if he did not have a worse life then that of his jock counterparts. Engagements and women were beginning to crawl out of the woodwork and attach themselves to him, though he admitted that he was dealing with the situation much better than any of his counterparts had.

Closing his eyes, he raised his face to the shower head and placed his hand on the valve, increasing the flow of hot water. If only his problems could be washed away so easily. It was unfortunate his resonator only transferred his mental essence. Being able to physically leave his world was beginning to look like the only way he would ever get out of the chaos his life was rapidly becoming.

"Hi there."

Ranma gave a yelp and nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of the female voice that had come from the entrance of the showers. His head whipped away from the stream of water and his eyes widened in shock as he saw that the voice belonged to his opponent, Utena Tenjou. She was leaning lackadaisically against the wall at the entrance to the showers, still in that slightly tight white shirt and red shorts that she had worn for the match. The wide grin she wore reminded him of Nabiki when she thought she had one up on him. That set him on edge.

The first thing that went through Ranma's mind was that the girl must have come to rub his face in his loss. And he had been certain she had been giving him a sympathetic look when he was receiving his admonishment from his instructors. He was about to shoot off some acidic comment when he caught on to the fact that she was not exactly looking him in the eyes. It took a moment for him to realize where her glance had fallen to and what it was currently lingering upon.

"WAH!" He covered up his privates as best as he could. "What do you think you're doing?! I'm taking a shower!"

"I can see that," Utena said with a smirk.

"Well then, get out!"

Utena gave him a confused look. "What do you mean? I assumed the showers here were co-ed, like at Ohtori Academy."

Ranma's hands almost fell away from his privates. "They are?"

"No," she said with a laugh, making a mental note that Ranma didn't seem to think clearly when he became flustered. "I needed to talk with you."

Ranma felt his anger rise at the apparent attempt to make fun of him. "Well, wait outside! I'm busy!"

Remaining where she was, Utena said, "You're kind of shy, aren't you?"

"When I'm taking a shower, yes!" Ranma felt heat rising to his cheeks. The ones on his face. The girl had no business being in the showers.

She continued giving him a sweet smile. "That's a change of pace. Most of the guys I know seem to want me to see them naked."

"I ain't one of them!"

Utena was surprised at the ever so brief flare of anger she felt at his vocal refusal. It was as though some part of her, deep inside, felt that he had no business refusing her; she was the one that had won the fight. She shook her head free of the errant thought. Her sweet smile turned into a pensive stare. "I see. You're ashamed of your body."

"I am not!" Later, Ranma would wonder exactly why he moved his hands from his front to his hips.

Utena nodded appraisingly in response to his gesture. "I guess not." With that, she pivoted on her heel and turned her back to Ranma.

Ranma didn't know which he was more surprised by, the fact that he had unthinkingly stopped covering himself up, or the momentary surge of annoyance he felt at her turning her back to him after the gesture. He had wanted her to turn around, so why was he irritated that she had at last given in to his wishes? It was not as though she had laughed or made some sort of sarcastic comment about him, though it did almost seem as though he felt that she should have continued to look.

Getting rid of the strange thoughts, Ranma found himself scowling at the back of the impudent girl. He was about to say something about her leaving the shower area altogether when his eyes began to take on a mind of their own as they roamed over the intruder. Her legs still seemed very long, and her shorts really appeared that they might be just a little bit too tight. Not that he was complaining about that. And the way that her odd, pink hair cascaded down her back…

His hand sprang to the cold water handle of the shower. At least he was in the right sort of place to calm himself from the sort of reaction he was having. If Utena turned around now, he doubted if his hands were going to be able to hide everything.

Had Ranma been able to see Utena'a face, (and not so concerned about her not turning around to see the state he was in) he would have seen the look of confusion that overtook her features. Why had she been behaving in such a manner? She was never anywhere near that forward with anyone she knew, least of all some guy she had just met. It had taken every bit of rationalization she could muster to even enter the men's locker room. Once she was there, and heard the water running, she had almost left without saying a word. It was as she turned to leave that something happened to her. There was suddenly an overwhelming, almost primitive, urge to take a peek at Ranma. She knew she shouldn't do it, --she would have killed anyone that would have tried something similar with her--, but for some odd reason the desire would not leave her and she knew that if she did not do it, some part of her was always going to regret it.

So she was going to play the voyeur, at least that was the plan. However, once she laid her eyes on his tightly-muscled form, while a small amount of steam rose from the hot water that doused him, she found her body reacting on its own as she moved into full view and spoke up. Again, she could not say why she did it, other than perhaps she was becoming a pervert of some kind.

Almost as surprising as her move to look at him, was her reaction to Ranma's 'rejection' at her peeping. The anger she felt almost seemed to be instinctive, and for the briefest of moments she felt desire surge through her. The feeling passed as quickly as it came, and she rationalized it away as it simply being frustration over not having found a truly nice guy.

Despite the urges she had, and the fact that she really did not belong in the men's locker room, she remained where she was, provoking Ranma until he gave his little 'display.' At that point she felt a wave of satisfaction run through her and at last complied with his wishes by turning around. She made a mental note to pay closer attention in her psychology class about sexual drives and feelings. There had to be some sort of reasonable explanation for her unusual behavior. She was sure of it.

When she at last felt her thoughts were collected well enough to start thinking clearly, she spoke to Ranma, leaving her back to him the entire time. It was surprisingly difficult. Ranma's body was quite pleasing to the eye, and she found herself wanting to look him over again, especially since he had seemed to get over at least a little bit of his shyness. But there was no time for that sort of thing.

"There's something I wanted to ask you," she said loudly enough to be heard over the running water.

"What about?"

"I had a question about the fight." Utena thought she could hear the sound of gnashing teeth behind her, but that was absurd. The water was making too much noise for her to hear that. She waited for Ranma to reply. When nothing met her but silence, she continued anyway. "During the fight, did anything odd happen to you?"

Ranma was about to snap back, 'Yeah, I lost' when he remembered the problem with his fist. At first he was not going to say anything, for fear she would think he was just making excuses, but then it occurred to him that she was the one asking the unusual question. Maybe it had not just been his imagination. "Well, something really weird did happen. I don't know exactly what it was, but there was a point, towards the end, when I saw an opening for a shot to your head. I was going to hit you, but then my fist just seemed to stop. I don't know what did it, but it was unlike anything I've ever experienced before. And I am not making an excuse. It really happened."

Utena gave a soft grunt, partially from having her fears confirmed, partially for the frustration at having been denied a clean victory yet again. "I believe you, and I think I know what happened. I can't go into the details, but let's just say I owe you a rematch. Give me a chance to talk to my friends and clean up, then we can have it." She started to depart, but stopped before she would be out of sight and turned to look at Ranma. "By the way, you would never have hit me anyway. The opening was just a feint to get me under your guard."

Ranma had his doubts about that, and was about to say as much, when he realized she was looking at him again. He covered himself up and said, "Fine. I accept the rematch. We'll have it away from the Academy though." There was no point in having it on school grounds. He was sure he would win, but if he should suffer a second loss on the same day, and have the Dean or his coach see it, it would all but ensure he was forced into a form of eternal slavery that would be disguised as 'training.'

"Sounds good," Utena said.

Ranma watched as she finally left the shower area and departed. Now he at last had a chance to think about the sudden, and unusual, turn of events. Somehow, there had been some sort of outside interference at the fight, though for the life of him Ranma could not figure out what it had been. Also, Utena had some sort of familiarity with the interference, implying that it had happened before. It didn't seem likely she was the source; she was too angry at what had happened. Also, there was something in her attitude that made it seem her anger was directed elsewhere. As hard as he tried, there was nothing he could come up with that seemed to make sense.

His thoughts turned to Utena's behavior after the fight. She must have been pretty brash to just waltz into the men's shower area and grab a look at his naked body. Part of his mind did point out that maybe he should not blame her too much. After all, he was good-looking and lots of women were attracted to him. Why should she be any different? And since she was from a different school, it might have been her only chance at trying to impress him. It was just a good thing Nabiki, Kodachi, or Ukyou, for that matter, had not spotted Utena entering the showers. There was no way any of them would have believed, or accepted, the explanation of what had happened. They would have immediately blamed him for the perceived wrong, never mind the fact it was not his fault. Everyone blaming him for things going wrong seemed to be something that was happening in increasing amounts in his life. That was another parallel to his counterparts that he could have lived without.

Thinking about Utena again, he also considered the fact that she had dropped by for his confirmation that something odd had interfered with him in the fight. Once she received that confirmation, she immediately wanted a fair rematch. That meant she had some sense of honor, something that was not very evident in most of his opponents, either in his own or his counterparts' memories.

Ranma found himself unconsciously nodding in approval of her behavior (concerning the fight, not the peeping). He took his time cleaning up, silently deciding that she was most likely taking some sort of measure to make sure their fight was not interfered with this time. Yes. He felt sure it would be a fair fight this time, and in a fair fight, he was certain he would win. Utena would never know what hit her. And then afterwards, he could have an official rematch, and after a second victory, this one in front of Dean Fuyutsuki and Coach Fujinami, they would get off his back about needing the inhuman amount of training they had threatened him with.

Yes. He didn't have anything further to fear from Utena Tenjou.

Utena's head popped from around the corner of the showers. "By the way, did anyone tell you you've got a really nice-looking hiney?" She narrowly evaded the bar of soap thrown at her head. Laughing, she quickly left the showers, ignoring the string of accusations of her being a perverted weirdo that followed in her wake.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Utena snickered to herself as she exited the men's locker room for real this time. Ranma's reaction to her dropping by 'one last time', was worth going back for. Tweaking him was fun, and he seemed even cuter when he was flustered. Too bad it was not likely she would be seeing him again. He was a lot more fun to hang around with than most of the other guys she knew. The upcoming rematch might very well be the last time she saw him, so she swore she'd commit everything to memory and make it an event to remember.

Rather than heading for the girl's locker rooms, she exited the gymnasium and went to locate Anthy. Utena found her and Miki waiting by the limousine that had transported them to the Imperial Academy. Dean Fuji was nowhere to be seen, for which Utena was glad. The fewer people there were around, the less it would embarrass Anthy.

Anthy was the first to her side as she gave Utena a bright smile. The smile faded ever so slightly when she noticed the frown the pink-haired girl wore.

"Anthy," Utena began. "I thought I told you not to interfere with the matches."

Anthy gave her a perplexed look. "Yes, you did."

"Then why did you interfere in this one?"

Anthy's perplexed look grew. "But I didn't."

Utena's hand came up to her forehead. Anthy did appear sincere, but there was no other explanation Utena could come up with. "Are you absolutely certain there is no chance whatsoever that you used your esper powers to interfere in the match?"

Anthy nodded her head. "Yes. I am."

"You are?" Utena asked again. "Think real carefully. You said before when you interfered in my first rematch with Touga that you didn't mean to interfere either, and that your control just seemed to slip for a moment because you wanted me to win. Are you absolutely certain it didn't happen again?"

Doubt began to creep across Anthy's features. "I'm mostly certain."

Utena let out a sigh. "Anthy, you did interfere, didn't you?"

Anthy's shoulders seemed to sag slightly. "I'm not sure. I don't think I did. And I know I didn't want to. But Mr. Saotome seemed to be pressing you very hard, and I might have slipped just a tiny bit and maybe did just a little something. I didn't mean it if I did."

The downcast look Anthy had made Utena lose her hold on the anger that had been building up. Anthy was capable of many things, but lying wasn't one of them. "Look, I appreciate you wanting me to win so badly, but you can't keep doing things like that. It's a matter of pride and I can't have anyone helping me in a fight. Now if this keeps up, you're not going to be allowed to be around during any of my fights."

Anthy stared at the ground. "I'm sorry. I promise I won't let it happen again," she softly murmured.

Utena moved to Anthy's side. "I'm sure you won't. I have faith in you." Utena found herself rewarded by Anthy's smile returning. "That's better." Utena then turned to Miki. "Do me a favor, make sure she gets back safely to our dorm. Nanami's been developing a bad tendency to pick on Anthy when I'm not around."

"I didn't know that," Miki said.

Utena noted the way Miki's hand, still hanging at his side, balled up into a fist. She had suspected he had something of a soft spot for Anthy, spending a lot of time around her and treating her like a person instead of an object, which was unlike just about everyone else on the Student Council. Of course, Utena also thought he would occasionally give her sidelong glances when he thought she wasn't looking. There were mixed feelings about that. Miki was a nice guy, but she felt more comfortable with him as a friend instead of a romantic interest. And that time obsession he had was incredibly annoying. Besides, she had to admit that in light of the way she had been looking at Ranma, it was pretty obvious she was looking for a different type of guy. Probably nothing would come of this chance meeting with him, but it was still interesting.

Anthy spoke up. "Aren't you coming with us, Miss Utena?"

"No. I'm going to stick around here and have a rematch with Ranma. It's the least I owe him from what happened because of the fight." Utena shrugged. That was the only reason she was doing it, at least that was what she told herself. "Besides, I'm going to feel guilty about him having to do all of that extra work his teachers seem to be giving him. I mean, he was going to lose the fight anyway, even without your interference, but I'll feel better once he goes down in defeat fair and square. Tell Dean Fuji I'll find my own way back home."

Utena turned to leave when Anthy stopped her. "Wait a moment."

Utena did as she was asked. Anthy went into the limousine, then came out with a pink rose. She handed it to Utena. "For luck," she explained.

Utena should have realized it. One of the few interests Anthy had was in tending the botanical rose garden in the school's arboretum. She was the talk among the horticulturists and botanists at the school. The various roses she grew were more vibrant and alive than any others everyone had ever seen. Anthy claimed all one had to do was treat them with respect and love, then they would blossom as you wanted them to. Utena would not have been surprised if it was some kind of esper thing, but Anthy maintained she never did anything of the kind with them. They just liked to grow for her, she said. It was another odd characteristic of the girl Utena regarded as friend. A weird friend, but a friend all the same.

Utena accepted the offered rose and thanked Anthy. She told them 'so long' once more before heading off to the girl's locker room. There was just enough time for her to clean up before her rematch with Ranma.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Ranma picked up the pace as he led Utena towards the vacant lot that was located a little distance from the school. From what he had heard others say, it was a place where more than a handful of fights took place when one did not want the prying eyes of the Academy's teaching body looking over their shoulders. It was in the opposite direction from his home, but he would still have plenty of time to defeat Utena and make it home in time for dinner. That was assuming the fake Genma hadn't eaten every edible thing in the house beforehand.

The sun started to set as daytime gave way to the early hours of the evening. The streets were unusually deserted. It was to the point where Ranma swore that he and Utena passed no more than a half dozen people on their journey, when there should have been at least fifty for that time of the day. The shadows of the buildings they passed sprawled across the ground, as though they were the hands of giants reaching for both he and Utena. Everything had an oddly surreal feeling, which made him uncomfortable. It was unusual, for ordinarily he could not care less what the nature of a battlefield was. All that mattered was the opponent he was facing.

Ranma's thoughts returned to Utena. One of the reasons the light was fading fast was that she had taken forever to clean herself up after the fight. It had taken so long that he had been tempted to enter the girls' locker room and urge her to hurry. There had also been the temptation to get back at her for peeping at him. And it was not as though she did not have a nice body, what he had seen of it. If he had entered the shower, he would have been able to know for certain if the whole package was the same way.

Of course, there was also no telling what her reaction would be to that. It was not as though she would have had any business complaining after what she had pulled earlier, but he was not sure if she would be offended, or just flattered. There was no way he was going to try to encourage her to become interested in him. His hands were more than full with all of the women already in his life. He certainly did not need Utena fawning over him as well, even if she was cute and he had felt sort of turned on when they had fought.

Ranma shook his head. It was the same thing that had happened leading up to the first fight, and that sort of thinking was the last thing he needed. Especially since he had just thought that he did not need the girl in his life. No. After he beat her in this rematch, and a nice, big public one later on, that would be all of the contact he would have. Unless she initiated some with him, in which case he would be screwed. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

After a few minutes, he managed to tear his thoughts away from Utena's looks and back to the matters at hand. When Utena had emerged from the locker room, she was dressed once more in the school uniform she had arrived in, with a pink rose now adorning its left breast. It made sense since all of the clothing she had just fought in was full of sweat. It might have been just as well, since Ranma himself had changed into his school uniform also. Originally he had planned on returning home and getting another set of fighting clothes, but he quickly reconsidered. It was getting late and there was no time for going home, then heading out to the lot, and then traveling back. Also it would raise questions from his mother about where he was going, especially since she would probably have dinner started. Ranma wanted to get the whole fight thing out of the way. After defeating Utena, he would relax and then go home. It was a good plan. What could possibly go wrong?

The sun had almost set by the time they made it to the empty lot. It was a simple thing, in between two plain, gray buildings with only a handful of windows on either side, and the windows were boarded up on one of them. Another side of the lot was connected to the edge of a nearby park, while the fourth had a plain wooden fence that separated it from the street on the other side. There was no one to be seen, nor were there any of the sounds one associated with people being around. A soft wind blew, echoing off the walls of the nearby buildings and making the place seem almost desolate, as though they were going to be fighting on some sort of barren plain.

The sun dipped behind several nearby statues. All of them were of famous people in the Empire's past. The angle the sun hit the statues at produced elongated, distorted shadows that clung to the wall of one of the buildings that bordered the lot. That made it appear as though a demonic audience was observing them from the shadows; the only spectators he and Utena would have for their duel. The whole thing bothered Ranma enough that he felt a chill run down his spine.

Utena seemed less affected by the unusual aura their impromptu battleground held. Again she gave Ranma a wry little smile, as though she was going to enjoy the upcoming rematch. Ranma found himself involuntarily returning the grin. He admitted that she did look cute when she smiled, but all of the other girls he knew did too, even Akane. That was no reason to want her to stick around. There was going to be a fight between them in a few minutes, a vicious duel in which only one of them was going to walk away. Any sympathy would have to be given after the fight, not before.

They went more quickly through their respective warm up routines. Each of them wanted to get on with the fight and find who the better fighter truly was. Neither of them paid the close attention to the other that they had in the previous warm up that they had. Victory was now the only thing on their minds.

The shadows on the wall seemed more demonic than ever as they wordlessly began their match. Having taken a measure of one another in their previous duel, they immediately attacked, holding little in reserve. Bokken thrusts were dodged and a variety of fists and kicks avoided. Soft grunts and hard breathing followed, becoming increasingly louder as the fight continued, neither gaining an advantage over the other.

That was not to say that both went unscathed during the length of the battle. An assortment of punches and blows began to add up on each of the duelists. A punch in the gut for Utena. A strike from her bokken across Ranma's face. A thrust kick into the back of Utena's hamstring. A knee into Ranma's face from an unexpected leap attack from Utena. The tally on each side rose in even amounts as the fight progressed.

For over twenty minutes the two fought. Longer than any match Utena had been in. Longer than any fight Ranma had with Nabiki. Neither gave quarter as they kept up the inhuman tempo of the fight. Exhaustion entered the fray on both sides. Bursts of adrenaline became more important as rasping breaths became heavier and heavier. Yet still the fight continued, neither opponent willing to accept their first defeat at the other's hands.

Had there been a crowd watching the fight, it would have been mesmerized by the elegant violence that ensued as the two combatants flowed into a seamless pattern of aggression and passion. Both felt themselves elevating to a level of proficiency in their art they had rarely felt before in being taken to the limit of both ability and endurance. Conscious thought was reserved for attack and defense, but, subconsciously, neither wanted the fight to end for fear of losing the emotional high being experienced in their duel. It was far more than the physical attraction felt from the alterations done to them by science, it was a physical and emotional ecstasy that they would have made its presence known under any circumstance.

The feeling, the moment of connection the two experienced in their bond of violence, was shattered by the sound of clapping.

Spirit Eagle emerged from his hiding place next to one of the buildings and allowed the duo to see him. His approach to them paused momentarily when he saw the twin looks of pure rage that were directed towards him, even before he declared his intentions to them. The surprise only lasted a moment before he shook it off. In their exhausted state, he had nothing to fear from them.

As Spirit Eagle advanced towards the pair, his mind reviewed the events leading up to this moment. He had surreptitiously followed the pair from the Imperial Academy, after having witnessed only the tail end of their match. He had hoped to arrive there sooner, but traffic had been unusually heavy due to road construction. Upon seeing his target (and Ranma) he had quickly become impressed with her fighting skill. It appeared he was going to get a decent match this day, assuming the boy did not rough her up too much. A few moments of watching Ranma in action convinced Spirit Eagle that Utena's victory was most definitely not assured. With that in mind, it had been quite a surprise to see Ranma leave himself so blatantly open in the match and fall so quickly in short order. At the time, Spirit Eagle wondered if he had overestimated Ranma's skill, at least until seeing the back lot brawl the two had been having.

After the fight had ended, Spirit Eagle waited to see if an opportunity to break Utena in half would present itself. Attacking her on the Academy grounds was somewhat risky, but it could be done. Staying out of sight, he followed Utena only to discover there was another watcher, one of the schoolgirls of the Imperial Academy if he judged her attire correctly, also following Utena. If that had not been bad enough, Utena had entered the boy's locker room shortly after the fight. Spirit Eagle had little doubt as to the nature of her visit, and decided that the 'condemned' should have one last fling before she became physically unable to have such an experience again for a very long time.

Since he had chosen to give her the extra time, he waited until she had emerged from the gymnasium and gone outside. He had seen her approach the limousine that they had presumably arrived in, and began to fear he would have to follow her all the way back to Ohtori. Luckily, after saying a few words to her comrades, she left them, the vehicle departing with everyone that had arrived with her shortly afterwards. That was all the confirmation the Native American needed to know he was going to get his chance in a short while.

He followed her back to the gymnasium, debating whether or not to try to get at her in the showers, when Ranma posted himself outside the girl's locker room and waited. That irked Spirit Eagle; apparently Ranma wanted another helping of Utena before she left. It was doubly irritating to Spirit Eagle when the two met up and headed out, leaving the school grounds together. At that point, Spirit Eagle was certain the two were probably going to rent a room in a love motel for another quickie, the horny little things. He had to admit that he had not been any better at that age. He was counting on probably having to sneak inside the hotel and to beat both of them up, when they went to an abandoned back lot instead. His first thought was that Ranma was being incredibly cheap in electing to do it in some deserted area instead of shelling out the cash to treat Utena with at least a little dignity. Then he saw the two start to warm up. Now things made sense. They were apparently going to hold a rematch of some kind. Since Spirit Eagle was beginning to wonder if he was ever going to have a chance to take on Utena alone, he decided to let the two fight it out. Once they were both sufficiently weakened, he would march in and beat them up.

The fight lasted too long, however. Spirit Eagle had wanted to get back before nightfall, and that opportunity had already come and gone. Worse, the two were having an incredibly long duel. Spirit Eagle had learned martial arts and had become a fighter simply because it was the quickest way to get what he wanted, and he had no compunction against using violence to achieve his goals. Any beauty to the art itself was lost on him, and he failed to appreciate the elegance of what he had just witnessed. All that he had seen was that the pair had fought for a while and were now exhausted. That meant it was time to make his move.

Spirit Eagle stood in the middle of the battleground, allowing the two to admire his form. He was very tall, just over six feet in height, and was two hundred and seventy pounds of solid muscle. More than one opponent had hit him only to discover that he was rock solid. Speed was not his forte, but he was quick enough, and more than powerful enough to take on almost anyone and win. Certainly he could take care of two exhausted children, no matter how good they were in peak condition.

He had elected to travel around in a black silk top and matching black pants, with a red sash to break up the ensemble. It wasn't his usual fare; instead he preferred fighting in the more traditional garb of his homeland, just like he had when he was in the Arena. But it would have attracted too much attention and there was always a chance that someone would recognize him from his days in the arena. Jun Fan Lee might have been the star of the Arena in Spirit Eagle's day, but the Native American warrior had managed to attract a small group of loyal followers. Occasionally, he still gave out autographs. Somehow he doubted either Utena or Ranma were going to want his.

Ranma was the first to speak. "Who the hell are you?!" Rage was evident in his voice, even though from the expression on his face he had calmed down at least a little from the interruption. Utena might not have spoken, but her aggressive posture and near snarl on her features indicated she was in the same frame of mind as Ranma.

"The name's Spirit Eagle. Former Arena Champion." He did not bother employing any of the showmanship he frequently displayed in fights. Playing to the crowd was something he had been taught by his Arena 'masters', though the only time he used such abilities was when he was going to have a fight before an audience. Somehow he doubted if either of his opponents were going to appreciate his flare for the dramatic.

"There isn't a problem here," Utena said, the anger now almost dissipated. "This is an honorable duel between two fighters."

"Well, I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree with you there. There is a problem here, but I'm afraid you're the one that's it." Spirit Eagle cracked his knuckles as he moved closer to Utena.

"What do you mean?" Utena asked, noting Spirit Eagle's carefully measured steps and marking him as someone that knew how to fight, just as he claimed. She noted that Ranma was glaring at the stranger as well. Utena began to sense a set up, but at least it appeared Ranma was not behind it.

"Someone wants you and your mouth out of the way, girl. I'm afraid you made enemies with the wrong person this time."

"Hey! Butt out of this!" Ranma shouted. Even if what the Native American had said was true, he had no business interfering in a private fight. Also, something about the large man unsettled Ranma, a reek of violence. Also, Utena had not come across as the sort of person that made enemies easily. She had actually been quite friendly to Ranma, had proven herself honorable and even gracious when she had 'won' their previous duel. She had also shown a measure of trust in allowing Ranma to choose the battlefield where their rematch would take place. All of the facts that cried out that Utena had probably not done anything that would merit having someone like Spirit Eagle hunting down.

Spirit Eagle afforded a glance to Ranma. "This doesn't concern you. Stay out of it." For some reason, he doubted that Ranma would take the advice. That was the other reason he had waited until both of them had expended a lot of energy. Beating either of them up one-on-one would have been easy. Dealing with both of them at the same time was a different matter. In their current shape, however, he anticipated little in the way of difficulty, even if they double teamed him.

Which was what it appeared they were going to do. Spirit Eagle was now closer to Utena than Ranma, but he found that the boy was moving closer, almost as though he was going to protect Utena, not that it would do either of them any good. All that would accomplish would be having two people beaten up instead of one.

"I think it is my business." Ranma moved closer as he continued. "You bust up a private duel and act like you're going to attack someone that's already been through a tough fight. That doesn't seem too fair to me and just speaks volumes about your character."

Spirit Eagle gave a little shrug, a move meant to relax them for a split-second, then attacked. He charged Utena, who was too slow to get out of the way of the shoulder block the man threw. The impact hurled her several feet away.

With her out of the way, he turned his attention to Ranma. The boy still had a good bit of speed left as he connected with a fist to Spirit Eagle's jaw. The blow was solid, but lacked enough force to do much damage to the larger man. Spirit Eagle retaliated by taking several swings at Ranma's head, all of which he evaded. After the fourth fist towards Ranma's head, Spirit Eagle switched tactics and lashed out with a foot, striking Ranma in the stomach. The fight was proving itself a little more difficult than he had originally thought, but he knew he was going to win in the end.

A bokken struck Spirit Eagle in the back. Instinctively he spun around with a backfist while his mind processed the fact that the blow meant Utena had already recovered and was ready for more. The backfist missed, and worse, rather than give Spirit Eagle the chance to back away from Utena, left him open for a right to his own jaw. The punch he lashed out with was blocked by Utena's bokken, but drove her backwards once more. Again Spirit Eagle had no chance to do anything as someone kicked him right on top of the head.

Spirit Eagle staggered backward a little from the unexpected blow. Ranma landed several feet in front of him, next to the recovered Utena. Rather than press an attack, Ranma turned to the girl.

"Are you all right?"

"Of course," Utena said. "Are you all right?"

"Never better," Ranma lied. The man hit nearly as hard as Ryouga. Aside from that, Utena had nailed him in the stomach a couple of times already, which did nothing to help him withstand Spirit Eagle's assault. "He's going down."

"You got that right," Utena replied as both surged forward and attacked.

In the first few moments, Spirit Eagle found himself hard-pressed by the attacking duo. However, their previous battle had taken its toll, and when their initial assault began to falter, the Native American warrior retaliated by fighting off the double team and getting an increasing number of blow past both warriors' defenses. He landed a few more on Ranma, but Utena was not built as solidly as Ranma, and suffered more from each blow.

Ranma bought them a measure of respite, when he attacked Spirit Eagle again with a midair assault. Spirit Eagle made a mental note of that, and continued fighting, waiting for Ranma to take to the air again. There had been a particularly annoying fighter in the Arena that had a fondness for mixing aerial attacks in with his style. He had beaten Spirit Eagle once on a televised match by using a series of attacks that way. But Spirit Eagle learned from his mistake and with the help of another fighter, a blond European that was simply known as Masters, had developed a counter to such attacks. In the rematch, the man that had originally beaten him fell in short order to the specially devised defense.

Now it would serve Spirit Eagle well once more as Ranma took to the air for a third time. The man avoided a kick from Utena, crouched and leapt straight up into the air, his arm extended. His fist began to glow with blue chi as he called out the name of the attack.

"HADOU SHORYU KEN!"

The nature of the attack caught Ranma off guard. The fist of energy struck him cleanly in the jaw, sending him flying nearly twenty feet away. Bereft of his senses, Ranma was barely able to get to his hands and knees.

Spirit Eagle landed on the ground only to have a vicious bokken thrust strike him in the lower ribs. The blow hit so solidly that the next to last rib in his left side was broken. A backfist connected with Utena's face, stunning her and driving her to the ground as Spirit Eagle roared out in pain. Her bokken landed at his feet even as he evaluated the damage the strike had done to him. Already he was finding it hard to breathe without a great deal of pain, and was thankful the rib had not punctured his lung.

Ignoring the pain, he picked up the bokken. "This little toy has caused me more than enough problems today." He hurled it like a spear, over the fence and out into the street. It would be making no reappearance today.

Satisfied it was indeed gone, he stalked towards Utena, who was still on the ground. "Before it was just business. Now it's personal." He considered starting with her right leg. Maybe he would pull it out of her hip before actually breaking the bone.

Spirit Eagle was towering above her when he heard the cry of anger come from above him. He looked up to see that Ranma had at least partially recovered, although there did seem to be a sort of glaze to his eyes. Spirit Eagle wondered if the boy was fighting with a concussion. It really didn't matter. When the large man hit Ranma this time, he wouldn't be getting up for several days. Perhaps Spirit Eagle would break all of the boy's limbs as well.

Again the Native American warrior crouched and prepared to launch another Hadou Shoryu Ken. Just as he was about to leap, a pair of hands locked themselves around his ankles. He looked down to see that the Tenjou girl had attached herself to his ankles, and from the look on her face, had no intention of relinquishing her hold.

Spirit Eagle only had time to look up into the sky as both of Ranma's feet connected cleanly with the larger man's face. He roared out in pain as he fell over, his balance destroyed between Utena's hold and the blow he had just received. Utena regained her footing while keeping her grip on his right ankle. Spirit Eagle tried to make her release the hold by striking her in the face with his free leg, but all he succeeded in doing was kicking her in the shoulder. There was no second kick as Ranma threw one of his own into the spot where Spirit Eagle's broken rib was. The cry of agony was cut off as he found himself airborne. Utena had shifted her grip and was now muscling him over her shoulder in a variation of a judo toss, though with the way he was balanced, it was pure muscle that enabled her to force him over her shoulder and into the ground. Spirit Eagle found himself breathing dirt as Utena maintained her grip on his leg, twisting it until he thought he felt a pop at the knee.

At last he gave her a solid kick that released her hold and forced her away. Spirit Eagle tried limping to his feet, ignoring both the pain in his chest and leg. He had just made it up when he saw that both Ranma and Utena were standing before him, staring at him evilly. They did not bother looking at each other as they spoke.

"You want to finish him off?" Ranma asked.

"Yes," Utena replied. "And you?"

"You better believe it."

"Let's do it together then."

Panic filled Spirit Eagle's eyes as the duo drew back and threw two tremendous punches aimed right at his face. He knew he wasn't going to be able to block the blows, and all that went through his mind was the ignominy of it all in being defeated by a couple of kids.

Then the world went dark.

xxxxxxxx

Ranma and Utena looked down at the sprawled out and very unconscious form of Spirit Eagle. Both of them nudged the prone body before them with their feet. When they received no response to the prod, each let out a sigh of relief. Even Ranma was not quite used to having a third party interrupt his duels.

"He wasn't so tough," Ranma said.

Utena looked at Ranma and wondered what that was supposed to mean. His uniform was ripped where he skidded across the ground. The right side of his face was covered in dirt from where it had hit the ground from when he was knocked out of the air, and there were still burn marks along the length of his jaw from where Spirit Eagle had unleashed that leaping chi attack. And that wasn't counting the injuries he had accumulated at Utena's hands before the Native American had interrupted the fight. Ranma appeared as though he could barely stand.

Utena's estimation was on the mark. Ranma's pride was barely enough to keep him upright. However, even hurting as much as he was, he still looked Utena over. Spirit Eagle had also marked her up. She seemed to be favoring both her stomach and shoulder at the same time. The right side of her face was swollen and slightly discolored from where one of Spirit Eagle's fists had connected, and her outfit was torn in several spots, though none were too revealing, for which he was thankful.

"I don't think we're in very good shape to continue this fight," Utena said. Adrenaline had stopped flowing through her body and exhaustion began to creep in. Continuing a fight was the last thing she wanted to do. All she wanted was to go back to her bed at Ohtori and fall asleep.

The same thing that was happening to Utena was also occurring within Ranma. His body was worn from the combined injuries he had accumulated from the twin fights. Of course, he thought that since he was a guy he could take it, but Utena did not look much better, if at all. The sun had long since gone down and it was truly night. It was going to take him almost an hour to get back home, which lay in the opposite direction he had taken from school to the empty lot.

"How are you going to get back?" Ranma asked Utena.

Utena considered that. When she had told the others she would find her own way back, she had not really considered how she was going to go about it. "I guess I can take the train. I should have enough money." She rifled through the bag she had brought with her to make sure that she had enough. She produced a wallet and fished out the money that was within, holding it out for both her and Ranma to see.

"You don't have enough money to buy a hard time." Ranma figured that the one hundred and twenty-five yen she had produced was not going to get her anywhere.

Utena gave a laugh that was more out of embarrassment than anything else. "I guess I left my money in my other wallet, and I don't think I can call anyone to pick me up this late at night. Looks like I've got a long walk ahead."

Ranma considered that. It was late. Ohtori was miles away. Clouds had formed overhead and were rumbling with the distant sound of thunder. Utena looked like she had been worked over by a gang of thugs. She was worn out. There was no telling where her bokken was now, and she had no money. Leaving her to walk back to Ohtori alone was just asking for trouble.

The words came to his mouth almost before he realized it. "You can stay at my place tonight. Tomorrow you can call whoever you have to get back to school, or I can loan you some money and you can take the train back or something."

Utena felt the heat rise to her cheeks at the suggestion. Still, she responded almost as quickly as the words formed in her mind. "Okay. Are you sure it won't be a problem? I don't want to impose."

Problems? Nabiki. Kodachi. Akane. Ukyou. His mother. His false father. The rumors that would circulate at school if anyone heard that she had stayed at his place.

"No. No problem."

"Thanks."

The warm smile she gave eradicated any feelings of doubt he had. Somehow, he knew deep inside that inviting her along had been the right thing to do.

But then again, Ranma Saotome had never been known for having very good judgment

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Author's notes:

I know I told some of you this would only be three chapters. Well it appears there will be at least one more to add here. Hopefully you'll like it and it will prove to make the ending a little more enjoyable. Thanks to Jurai-Knight and Jim Bader for looking this over.


	4. Chapter 4

Roses and Swords

A Quantum Destinies Side Story

Chapter 4

This is a story set in Jurai-Knight's 'Quantum Destinies' universe, and you will have to be familiar with that piece of work to follow this story. The events within take place some time after chapter nine of Quantum Destinies.

Standard Disclaimer:

The Quantum Destines universe is Jurai-Knight's. Many of the characters within are not. Revolutionary Girl Utena is also owned by someone else.

Any and all C+C is appreciated. You can contact me at

Roses and Swords is currently being stored at TH's page at:

.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"What a charming young lady you've brought home with you, Ranma."

As those words issued from his mother's mouth, Ranma began to wonder if bringing Utena to his home was a good idea. Actually, he was beginning to think it had been an extraordinarily bad idea. It was true that he had figured his mother had her hands full with the three girls she was already trying to foist upon him. The way Nodoka went on about the girls was almost as though she were at the supermarket and trying to figure out which was the best fruit to buy, only in this case it was the qualities of the girls instead of 'is the coloration on this tomato good?' And as to Ranma himself actually getting a chance to choose, his mother claimed he would have the final say, but the way she was evaluating each one made him wonder if he was going to be given the choice of 'you may pick the one that meets Mother's approval.' It had been keeping his mother busy, which was nice. She did seem to be happy, even if it had to do with controlling his life and the future course it would take.

With that in mind, he had assumed that bringing a girl home would be no big deal. He had arranged things with Utena beforehand, the two of them saying that they had been involved in an after school activity, and things had happened so quickly that they had lost track of the time. On the way back, they had been jumped by a mugger, and had fought him off, which would explain the bruises and tears in their outfits. None of it was a lie, it was just an evasive way of telling the truth. There was no point in letting his mother he had gotten into a fight with a girl, even if it was for the school. Besides, if she found out then the fake Genma would too. Then Ranma would end up being badgered at home about what a wimp he was in losing to a girl. Knowing how the impostor thought, he would probably demand Ranma and Utena fight again tonight. The two battles with her already, as well as the one with the strange foreigner, had totally worn him out. Fighting again was the last thing we wanted to do today. That and having to deal with the fake Genma's ranting.

Ranma looked over to see his mother was clearly examining every inch of Utena, and was asking her increasingly personal questions. He then added, 'acquiring another prospective fiancee' to the list of things he did not want to have to deal with today.

That touch of suspicion Nodoka had when her son had unexpectedly brought home the girl with the odd, pink hair, quickly evaporated as she began talking with Utena. The girl was very pleasant. She smiled a lot. It was easy for Nodoka to tell it was sincere, as opposed to the false one's some people were apt to give when talking with someone they did not want to deal with but had no choice.

Nodoka quickly found out the information she wanted: Utena's name, how she met her son, where she attended school, what her family was like (Nodoka apologized when she found out that Utena's parents had died when she was six), and a host of others.

The girl really was quite charming, and Nodoka found herself a bit taken in with her. She seemed to be quite personable and easy-going. It reminded Nodoka of herself when she was younger. That Utena was wearing what appeared to be a boy's school uniform was a bit distressing, but as near as Nodoka could tell, that was the only unusual thing about her. Although that was not the sort of behavior Nodoka would have engaged in when she was that age.

Well, that wasn't exactly true. There was one instance of it. It was that one time in her youth, when she and Achika had to infiltrate one of the local colleges to steal back their underwear. It was one of the few times they had fallen into one of Kensaiko Idomo elaborate traps and ended up yielding all of their undergarments to a local fraternity as some sort of initiation rite for their new pledges. Since there was no way she and Achika were going to explain what had happened (or let Kensaiko stay one up on them) they had changed their hairstyles, borrowed some men's clothes, bound their chests, and gone undercover to retrieve their clothing. What came as a complete surprise was that each agreed the other was able to convincingly pass herself off as a guy. That she could easily look that masculine was not something Nodoka found herself comfortable with.

What followed was one of the worst comedy of errors that had happened in Nodoka's lifetime. Infiltrating the fraternity during a victory celebration turned out to be a horrible mistake. People had all but forced both her and Achika to consume massive amounts of alcohol, a substance neither had very much experience with, and which served to affect their judgment considerably. At some point, Nodoka lost track of Achika in the masses of humanity that had converged on the fraternity. Then she noticed one of the guys forcing his attentions on a girl who obviously didn't want them. Nodoka came to her defense, beating up the boy when he wouldn't back off. The girl, who introduced herself as Miaka, hung around closely with Nodoka from that point onward, smiling a lot and behaving very personably and friendly towards her savior. Shortly after that, a six foot tall, three hundred pound mass of muscle named Gosunkugi made his presence known. It turned out he was Miaka's boyfriend, or ex-boyfriend, as he discovered when Miaka loudly declared he "wasn't half the man her No-chan was!" Nodoka didn't remember much of the fight, other than her being forced to break every chair in the place over Gosunkugi's head before she knocked him into unconsciousness. After a few more cups (seven) of victory sake, Miaka led the completely blitzed Nodoka to one of the bedrooms and mentioned something about Nodoka "reaping rewards". The next thing Nodoka remembered was waking up early the next morning in a strange bed with a splitting headache and a head of black hair snuggled tightly to her bound bosom. The first thought that went through her mind caused a feeling of nausea to sweep over her, until she realized that both she and Miaka were still fully clothed, though Nodoka could have sworn that the belt on her borrowed pants had been loosened a bit.

Achika discovered Nodoka as she gently managed to get out of the bed without waking Miaka. Achika showed Nodoka the purloined underwear she had recovered, and the two left the fraternity house without waking any of the other sleeping inhabitants. Once outside, Achika burst out laughing, saying it looked like Nodoka had scored with her "new girlfriend". Nodoka blustered that she didn't know what Achika meant until she looked at her reflection in a fountain and saw that her face and neck were covered in lipstick shaped kisses. The joke went on for the next couple of hours, until they went to a public bath and Nodoka discovered that Achika must not have remembered the full details of the night before either. At least she seemed surprised when Nodoka asked why there was a tattoo with a heart and the words, 'Shinobu Forever' written above them on the back of her right shoulder. Achika never spoke a word about "Nodoka's girlfriend" ever again, and the scar left from the tattoo removal was barely noticeable.

"Who's Miaka?"

"What?" Nodoka asked as she came back to the present.

"I said, who's Miaka?" Utena repeated. "You said that name and had a far off look on your face. I just wondered who she was."

"An old, ah, friend." Nodoka felt heat rising to her cheeks at the inadvertent slip. There was no way Genma would ever understand if that wild part of her past was revealed. She had cross-dressed out of necessity, and only that one time, and what had happened was not her fault.

Nodoka forced herself back to reality and concentrated on the pleasant girl before her. Maybe they had more in common than she thought. It really was a pity that Utena was wearing such clothing. She would have looked beautiful in a dress.

Utena felt uncomfortable as Ranma's mother sized her up once more. She felt as though she was a horse that was being examined for a buyer. The only thing left for Nodoka to do was to open Utena's mouth and examine her teeth.

"You have a very pretty smile. Your teeth are just perfect."

Utena fell out of her chair.

Nodoka rose out of her seat and helped Utena back up. "Be careful. I washed the floor a little while ago, and it's still quite slippery."

"Thanks," Utena said. Nodoka fawned over her for a couple more minutes before Utena convinced her there was nothing wrong. Utena relaxed as the conversation began again.

"Tell me, do you have a boyfriend?"

Utena could feel the sweatdrop form behind her head. "Ah, no." What disturbed Utena even more than the personal nature of the question was the smile Nodoka developed upon hearing the answer. Her warning senses began shouting out to be careful, but she was at a loss as to how to react. All she found she could do was continue talking with Nodoka and hoping she didn't get any funny ideas.

Dinner served to break up the interrogation. After it was over, Ranma 'rescued' Utena by escorting her to the bathroom, explaining that she hadn't had a chance to clean up all day. He had already taken the opportunity to clean up as his mother had kept the girl talking for well over an hour, pumping her for information, no doubt. After showing her where it was, he went back out to have a little discussion with his mother, keeping his fingers crossed on both hands and hoping that she was not going to say what she was probably going to say.

Ranma found Nodoka dusting in the living room while Genma relaxed in a chair next to the television. Ranma refrained from saying something acerbic in his direction. A pang of remorse shot through him as he gazed at the impostor. He had to figure out a way to get his real father back, and soon. The fake's mere existence was putting Ranma's nerves on edge, and he knew it was only a matter of time before Genma did something that would really screw up Ranma's life. Although his mother was helping things along by trying to get him married to any of the various girls she had set him up with. And now, now he might have erred and done something to damage his cause on his own.

"You said you wanted to speak to me, Mother?"

Nodoka quit dusting and smiled at Ranma, making the hackles on the back of his neck rise up. Doomed. He was doomed.

"Ranma, I just want you to know that I'm not going to force you to marry any of the girls you've had to meet this week"

Ranma's jaw nearly hit the floor. "You're not?"

"Of course not," Nodoka reassured him. "You can marry someone you've met instead. Your happiness is all I'm concerned about, as well as having grandchildren."

And for a moment there, Ranma said to himself, he had thought the nightmare was going to end. He should have known it would not be that easy.

"Utena is a wonderful girl," Nodoka continued. "I approve of her wholeheartedly. I'm so happy you've taken the initiative and been so forward by inviting her over for the night."

Now Ranma was really starting to panic. He tried coming up with something to defuse the situation, some words or speech he could use, but all that he could come up with was, "Uh, okay."

Nodoka beamed at Ranma, putting him even further on edge than when he had come home and found himself unexpectedly engaged to Ukyou. "Your father and I are going to retire early," she said.

Genma looked up from his newspaper. "We are?"

"Yes." That was not a request. It was a statement of fact. Nodoka turned to Ranma again. "You and Utena will have the entire place to yourselves. Do whatever you like, we won't be around to get in the way or interfere."

Ranma felt himself beginning to sweat. The horrible nightmare was becoming worse.

Nodoka continued smiling. "You know, it's quite fashionable nowadays to have a mistress, as well as more than one wif—"

"I have to go study!" Ranma was out of the room in an instant. That was all it took to make him head for cover. Another five minutes and she would have been on the phone with a priest. Utena must have really impressed her to have his mother all but telling him to go ahead and sleep with her. He was going to have to be careful around Utena. All it would take was for her to be unable to resist him and sneak into his room or something, and it would all be over. His parents were useless as a shield. He was going to have to come up with some kind of plan to keep the girl away from him.

xxxxxxxxxxx

Yohko winced as Nabiki's fist lashed out at a nearby wall, breaking the plaster. That was going to cost a bit of money. The Devil Hunter was glad she had decided to inform Nabiki at the Tendou residence instead of her own.

"You're absolutely certain she went into the men's locker room?" Nabiki was barely able to speak through her gritted teeth. Unclenching them was proving an impossible task.

"That's not the sort of thing I'd make a mistake about."

"And you're sure it was her?" The teeth just would not unclench.

Yohko crossed her arms. "Pink hair? Excellent physical condition? Looked exactly like the girl that had fought Ranma a few minutes beforehand? Wasn't a doppelganger because I would have sensed it? Maybe you're right. It could have been any one of a million people in Japan."

"And she didn't come out for several minutes?" Nabiki thought she could feel her enamel chipping away.

"I heard him give a shout early on, then nothing." Yohko winced as the fist met the wall in a different place. The Tendous were definitely going to need some professional repair work.

"That…"

"Yes?" Yohko asked as an intricate series of veins popped up on Nabiki's forehead.

"That…"

"Yes?" Yohko could have sworn Nabiki now possessed a dull blue glow around her.

"THAT…"

"Yes?!" Another five seconds and it was a brain embolism for certain.

"Maybe there's a reasonable explanation for all of this." The teeth had unclenched and veins disappeared as Nabiki placed a hand thoughtfully to her chin, choosing not to comment on Yohko's sudden facefault.

"Yes," Nabiki said as Yohko picked herself up. "Stop and think about it. This can't be what it seems. Ranma is not the sort of guy that would allow some slut he just met to seduce him."

Yohko scratched her head. "Why not? I thought guys liked using cheap women for cheap thrills."

Nabiki's eyelid began to twitch. "Ranma's not like that."

"He's gay?"

A single vein reappeared to join the twitching eye. "He's not gay."

"Is he afraid of women?"

Teeth gnashing joined the single vein and twitching eye. "He is not afraid of women."

"Then why wouldn't he be willing to do it with an attractive girl that likes him?"

"HE WOULD BE WILLING TO DO IT WITH AN ATTRACTIVE GIRL THAT LIKES HIM, BUT HE WOULDN'T DO IT WITH THAT BIMBO HE JUST MET, OKAY?!"

"That works for me." Yohko looked at the fist that was now fully embedded in the wall. She left the Tendou residence before Nabiki really lost her temper and attacked her or something. As Yohko left, she realized there wasn't enough money in the world for her to wish she was in Ranma Saotome's shoes.

xxxxxxx

Akane came down from her bedroom and saw what appeared to be the faintest hint of a dull blue glow around Nabiki. As she drew closer, Akane noticed the three holes that now adorned the wall Nabiki was standing next to. "What happened?"

Nabiki took a deep breath to bring her temper back under control. "I fell down and my hand hit the wall."

"Three times?"

"Yes." As Nabiki finally felt her anger brought under control again, she took note of the night black army fatigues Akane was wearing. "Where are you going dressed like that?"

"Out," Akane said quickly as she headed out the door before Nabiki could interrogate her further. There was no need for her sister to find out her true destination, or why she had to wear the black combat fatigues. Some things just had to be done alone.

Nabiki watched Akane leave, wondering just what her sister was up to. It probably had to do with those new friends Akane had made at her new school. Nabiki made a mental note to see if there was anyone she knew at Furinkan that knew what this 'Combat Club' was all about. But there would be time for that later. She would get in touch with Ranma and get that reasonable explanation from him. The situation might have looked bad, but she had to try to give Ranma a chance at least. That was what nice, intelligent, and understanding women did.

xxxxxxxxxx

Genma allowed Nodoka to answer the ringing phone. He was too busy letting his stomach handle the meal his wife had made for him. He had forgotten how much he had missed her home-cooked meals.

Genma barely registered her saying, "Why hello, Nabiki. It's nice to hear from you." There was a brief pause before she said, "Well, I think Ranma's busy. He's having a friend stay over." There was another brief pause, then, "Her name's Utena Tenjou. Are you familiar with her?"

Genma could actually hear the "WHAT?!" screeching from the receiver as Nodoka darted her head away from it. A moment passed before Nodoka was willing to bring the receiver near her head again. She did take the precaution of leaving it far away from her ear. After a moment of being unable to hear Nabiki at all, she dared to bring it closer. "What's that? What you have to say to Ranma can wait until tomorrow? All right. Good bye."

The phone hadn't been in its cradle for more than five seconds before the phone rang again. Nodoka answered it once more. "Good evening to you, Lady Kunou, Oh, that's right. Kodachi-chan. Are you well?" Genma listened more closely to this one. The Kunous were very wealthy, and it wouldn't do to displease the dowry…err, Kodachi. Soun would be able to handle Nabiki, but he wasn't certain about how Lord Kunou would react.

"I think Ranma's busy. He's having a friend over," Nodoka said. "What's that? I don't think you know her. She attends Ohtori Academy. Her name is Utena Tenjou. Oh, you're coming over? Well, it's a bit late, but I'm sure Ranma won't mind. I'll see you in a little while."

Nodoka smiled to herself. She had liked the Kunou girl, even if her mother was that bitc… that unpleasant person from Nodoka's past. She was about to inform Genma that Kodachi was coming over, when she saw that he had already left the room, leaving a note saying:

"Gone out drinking. Don't wait up."

Snorting in frustration, Nodoka crumpled up the paper and tossed it into the garbage. Her husband's departure was odd; he had assured her he was going to stay in for the night. It was almost as though he didn't want to be around the house when Kodachi came over. No. Nodoka tossed aside the thought. It had been obvious Genma was enamored with the idea of their son becoming a member of the noble family of Kunou, praising the idea as much as he had Nabiki's and Ukyou's. It was surely a coincidence. It had to be. Nodoka decided the house needed dusting one more time. After all, it was important to impress Kodachi that though the Saotomes were not nobles, they still knew how to keep a house clean.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Ceilings could be very interesting things when one tried to distract oneself from thinking about how many things could go wrong in one day. The only consolation Ranma had was the realization was that, yes, it could get worse. He wasn't sure how, but if he dared to think otherwise, fate would prove him wrong by placing him in a hell far worse than anything he could imagine, or even the unimaginable one he was finding himself currently in. As it was, he had his hands full with what to do about Utena. Was she interested in him or wasn't she? He couldn't be sure. The one thing that he did know was that there was no way any of the girls in his life could find out Utena was staying the night. None of them would believe why she had really stayed, and it would be the end for him. There were just way too many women in his life that acted completely irrational. Still, unless his mother said something, there was no need to worry. The girls would never find out.

Ranma was still thinking about what to do when he heard Utena call out his name. He rose from his chair and left his bedroom, heading in the direction of the sound of the voice. As he went down the hall, he began to worry. It had sounded like Utena's voice might have come from the bathroom.

Sure enough, as Ranma got in the line of sight in the door, he spotted Utena's head sticking out of the doorway. She watched him approach and smiled. "I have sort of a problem." She looked a little sheepishly at Ranma, the movement opening the door ever so slightly and allowing him to see what she had kept hidden behind it. He felt his heart beat faster, then realized he could just make out the blue towel that was wrapped under arms, covering her body.

"What's the problem?" Ranma said as he relaxed a bit, uncertain of why he had gotten excited in the first place.

"I sort of had my clothes in a pile and accidentally got them wet. All of them." She shrugged a little in her towel.

Ranma considered that. "I don't think any of my mom's stuff would fit you."

Utena laughed. He was probably right since the older woman was a good bit taller. "Any set of sweats should do. Why don't I wear something of yours? You're not that much taller than me. They should fit pretty well. Besides, I'm used to wearing guy's clothes."

"Uh, yeah." Ranma couldn't argue with that. And it was not like she could walk around in wet clothes, so wearing his should work out fine. He went to his room and retrieved a set of gray sweats.

Utena accepted them graciously and went back into the bathroom to change. When she emerged, she spun in a circle so Ranma could see how his outfit looked on her. After spinning around twice, and realizing she had his full attention, she fingered the top. "You know, this is kind of tight around the chest."

Ranma felt a little heat rise to his own cheeks as he realized that the top was indeed, quite tight. And the way her finger played around the chest didn't help at all. "Oops! I grabbed an old set. I kind of outgrew them a while back and was planning to get rid of them. Let me get you some different ones." Oddly, he found himself reluctant to do that.

"Don't worry about it." Utena waved him off as she went back in to retrieve her wet clothes. They were bundled under her arm as she exited the bathroom again. "Say, you haven't shown me your room yet."

Ranma gulped audibly. She wanted to see his room? "Ah, okay." He waved off his uncertainty. There was nothing wrong with showing a guest one's bedroom. Even attractive girls. "Sure it's this way."

As they walked to his room, he looked out of the corner of his eye at Utena's top again. Now that he took a good look at it, he realized that something else was odd about the way the sweat shirt looked on Utena. Apparently, when she had said all of her clothes had gotten wet, she had not been kidding. It had become obvious in the cool air that there was nothing underneath the slightly tight sweat shirt she was wearing. He nearly got caught staring as Utena seemed to sense the attention and looked at him. He thought she was about to say something when they arrived at the door leading to his bedroom. Even as she opened her mouth, he blurted out, "We're here. Let's go inside."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Akane Tendou took a deep breath. She had never done anything like this before, but then she had never been in love with someone like Ranma Saotome before. That meant going the extra step and taking chances in figuring out how to get him to openly return her affections. Unfortunately, due to her being transferred to Furinkan, her time seeing Ranma had become very limited. And then the whole deal with the Combat Club took up even more of her precious moments. It was taking everything she had just to catch a fair glimpse of him, which was why she had to resort to going out nights to try catch sight of him. Like tonight, as she stood on the roof of the Saotome house.

It was lucky that she had located Ranma's house at all. A little surreptitious following of him the other day after school had led her to his home. It was a nice place, not as nice her home, but sizable and it had a warm feel to it, at least from the outside. She could see herself living there, if it came to that.

She probably could have simply knocked on the door and gotten invited in by his mother, but Akane had wanted to reconnoiter the place first. Seeing how Ranma lived might help her to understand him better and make catching his interest easier. She hadn't hung around Nabiki all of that time and not have a little bit of her older sister's tactics rub off on her. If she could learn who his favorite band was, she could invite him to a concert, or if she could find out his favorite food, invite him to dinner. It really was a good strategy.

Akane couldn't take the direct approach and ask him those sort of questions outright though. It would look better if it seemed to be spontaneous on her part, as though her interests and his were already alike. So she was doing reconnaissance and discovering what information she could, just like they taught her in some of the classes at Furinkan. 'Know your enemy before you engage in combat', was what they had said, and what was love if not a battlefield? It was information she was just starting to take to heart.

It was time to begin. She brought out her black ski mask and lowered it. It covered her whole face, leaving no chance anyone might recognize her. There was no way she was going to let Ranma discover her presence; he might think she was stalking him or something.

Akane grabbed onto the side of the roof and began to reposition herself outside Ranma's bedroom window. She was no ninja, but she had enough agility and skill in climbing that she was able to hang upside down and get a decent view of the interior of Ranma's bedroom. It was a difficult hold to maintain, but she was strong, and as long as her concentration wasn't broken, she could remain there for as long as half an hour before needing a minute to give her worn muscles a chance to recover. She moved a little farther, just enough so that she could peek into Ranma's bedroom with minimal risk of being seen from anyone within. It suddenly occurred to her that it was late and that Ranma might be retiring soon. That meant he might undress and…

Akane paid very close attention to what was going to happen next.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ranma opened the door and allowed Utena in first. It was as he followed her inside that she stopped suddenly. Ranma had allowed his mind to wander for a second, which was all it took for him to react too slowly when he tried to stop his forward progress. As he did so, he somehow managed to trip over his own feet and lose his balance. Utena turned at the sound of his 'Whoa!' and was facing him as he at last lost his footing and fell into her, causing them both to fall. The clothes Utena had been holding flew up in the air as the duo collapsed in a heap.

Ranma 'wuffed' slightly as he landed, Utena's knee ending up in his stomach. The small amount of pain in his gut was offset by the soft landing his face had. He started to get up, raising his head slightly, until he realized exactly what had cushioned his face. Now he knew he was in trouble.

Ranma was about to blurt out an apology when the sound of someone shouting outside caught their attention. Identifying it as coming from the window, they rushed over to it, the awkwardness of what had just happened forgotten. Both of them arrived just in time to see a figure prying itself out of the shrubs located near the window. Obviously the person had fallen from the roof. The masked figure cast one baleful glare upward, then ran off.

"What the heck?" was all Ranma said as the figure made a beeline for the wall surrounding the yard.

xxxxxxxxxx

Akane was furious. Never in her life had she been so angry. How dare Ranma do that to her! It was bad enough that he had taken another girl to his bedroom, but he hadn't even made it through the door before he jumped that cheap bimbo. Imagine, him burying his face in that trashy-looking girl's cleavage. Well she would show him. Once they started going out, she would force him to bury his face in her cleavage. Her chest might not have been very ample, but there was more than enough there to get the job done.

Leaping, Akane made it to the top of the yard's wall, the one that was next to the street. She was going to find out that strange girl's name and beat the crap out of her. No one, not ugly-looking pink-haired bimbos, not uppity snobs like Kodachi Kunou, and no other kind of girl was going to get between Akane and her Ranma.

"Nobody!" Akane shouted to the world. It was as she raised her fist to the sky that the barbell struck her in the back of the head. The world seemed to be spinning as she found herself falling from the wall and to the street below. A part of her mind realized that the concrete wasn't going to feel too good.

To her perceptions, it seemed she was falling forever, until she landed in something soft. Why hadn't the street felt rougher? It took her a few moments to recover enough of her senses to figure out why. She had not hit the street, but had instead fallen into the open back of a flatbed transport truck of some kind. It was carrying some sort of soft substance that had broken her fall, though it was too dark to make out what it was. It was as she started to get up that the smell assailed her nostrils. From there, it took only another second to figure out what the substance being transported was.

Manure. How nice. Someone was really going to pay now.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Utena gave a brief, "Yes!" and pumped her fist. The barbell had struck home and the peeper had learned his lesson. She noticed Ranma looking at her curiously. "I hate peeping toms," she explained. "Early on, some of the guys at Ohtori liked trying to sneak peeks at the girl's dorms or go on panty raids. They tried to hit my room all the time. I made it so they don't try anymore. At least not too often," she added.

"You don't like peepers, huh?" Ranma asked. "Sort of like people that might sneak a peek in locker room showers?"

"You got that right," Utena said. "I couldn't stand that sort of stuff. That would… be… ba…" she gradually trailed off as she made the connection. All Utena could manage was an embarrassed chuckle. It had seemed like it was a good idea at the time.

Ranma let it go. He supposed he had forgiven her earlier. The two relaxed as he gave her the grand tour of his room, which was really very plain and small. She did seem to take an interest in all of contents. It occurred to Ranma that this was the first time he had a girl in his room, though he didn't feel embarrassed in the least about it. "I'm kind of sorry about the mess," he said.

Utena just chuckled. "Before Anthy moved in with me, my room was ten times worse."

"That girl's your roommate?" Ranma asked. Now that he thought about it, his mother knew far more about Utena then he did. He figured learning a few things about Utena wouldn't hurt.

"Ah, yes, pretty much." It was really odd how, after defeating Touga, Anthy had insisted on becoming Utena's roommate. There was enough space. The girl that had previously been assigned to room with Utena had been in a serious car accident and had been in a body cast since the start of the semester. So the very next day Anthy had moved in with her meager belongings. Once there, she had done all of the cleaning and washing. Utena admitted to liking the attention, but had insisted to Anthy she didn't have to do things like that. Anthy just gave her usual smile and said she enjoyed helping Utena out in any way she could. Since then the pattern had been the same every day. It did make things easier, Utena had to admit, but it still felt like she was being mothered by her friend.

Ranma said, "I never had a roommate myself, unless you count sharing apartments and hotel rooms with my father."

"Sharing apartments?"

Ranma began an abbreviated version of his life. He was pleased to see that Utena paid rapt attention to the tale, asking a question here and there. After finishing, he asked about hers. Like his, she abbreviated the events in it. He listened with a sympathetic ear to all of the hardships she had gone through. And he had thought the other Ranmas had rough lives. At least she seemed happy now, which was something of a relief for Ranma.

"Well, where's your spare bedroom?" Utena asked.

It was then it occurred to Ranma that they didn't have a spare bedroom. There were a couple of extra futons she could use, but he found himself feeling awkward about making her sleep on one. "I was thinking that you could use my bed."

Utena's eyes widened in surprise. "What?"

"I'll sleep on a futon or something," he added.

"Oh." That was something of a relief, for a moment she had thought he propositioned her. He was nice, but she was not that sort of girl. "I don't want to put you out," she said.

"Nah, I've slept on rocks sometimes." Ranma's head jerked slightly. He had not been the one to sleep on rocks. That had been his 'brothers' lives. Sometimes keeping the memories separate was difficult. "Anyway, you're a guest, and us Saotomes know how to treat guests right. So don't worry."

"Well, if you're sure," Utena assented, and realized that his insisting on her taking the bed was the noble thing to do. It was pleasant to note that Ranma was turning out to be something of a gentleman, definitely a little cocky, but still nice to be around.

She began to consider other things about her accommodations. "Ranma, do you usually have a problem with peepers?"

Ranma considered that. He wanted to say no, but then he had never really been on the lookout for any. A shudder ran through him as he considered that he might have been peeped on before without even realizing it. What was the world coming to when perverts could look in on anyone? Subconsciously, he balled up his fist. If he ever caught someone doing that again, they were going to be in for an unpleasant surprise.

Utena spoke again. "Well, since I'm going to be sleeping here, I'm going to take a few precautions. It's not impossible the peeper might come back, since he'll probably count on us thinking we drove him off."

"What sort of precautions?"

"Just a few things that will make it a bit hard for anyone to come looking in on you."

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Kodachi Kunou got out of the chauffeur-driven limousine and took a longing look at the Saotome house. She found herself hoping that Ranma's mother was mistaken and that there was no girl in the house, or that it was no one of consequence. There were enough unworthy girls trying to gain Ranma's attentions. She did not desire any more competition. Things were hard enough as it was without other harridans entering the fray.

Deciding to go to the Saotome household had not been an easy task. Kodachi was fearful of what she might find, but then reconsidered. If Ranma was not going to easily return someone like Kodachi Kunou's affections, then he certainly would not do so with a virtual stranger. No. She had allowed her imagination to run wild. Whatever Ranma was doing, it was no doubt innocent of any wrongdoing.

Kodachi went up to the house and knocked on the door. Nodoka greeted her warmly, and after a few pleasant exchanges, informed Kodachi that Ranma was most likely up in his room, with the new girl.

That put Kodachi a bit on edge. She had hoped that the girl would have been gone by now, or in the Saotome living room helping Ranma with his homework. Somewhere out in the open. They might still be doing homework, but that it was occurring behind closed doors was not a reassuring thing.

She made her way up to the door to Ranma's bedroom, and was about to knock, when she heard the muffled sound of conversation on the other side. Her conscience nagged at her not to do it, but Kodachi couldn't help herself as she placed her ear to the door and listened in.

"I've never done this before," Kodachi heard Ranma say.

"I have." That must have been the other girl. Utena something.

"You have?"

"Sure, lots of times. Some of the guys at Ohtori are like animals. It's amazing what some of them can come up with when they feel challenged."

"Well, I'm not like that. I'm a gentleman."

"I know. I wouldn't be sleeping in your bed, otherwise."

Kodachi could scarcely believe her ears. She then began to hear grunting sounds that might have been Ranma's. He was still making noises like that as he said, "That hole looks kind of small."

"A tight fit is better. Trust me on this," Utena said

"Okay. How do I put it in?"

"Just thrust it in. That always works."

Kodachi felt tears form in her eyes as she now heard both of them grunting.

"Maybe I should hammer it in."

"No. Just *Uh* try screwing."

That was all Kodachi could take. She knew what was going on behind those closed doors and couldn't bear to barge in, even if it would interrupt their little 'session'. The sight would be too much to bear. She composed herself as she all but ran for the front door. Nodoka was in the living room. As Kodachi passed by, she said to Nodoka that it sounded like Ranma was busy and she didn't want to interrupt him. She asked specifically not to mention that she had ever stopped by, and that she would see Ranma soon enough. Nodoka was a bit confused, but agreed.

As Kodachi headed back out to her limousine, she paused to look at the Saotome house once again. What had happened tonight was certainly a blow, but it had been her own fault for moving so slowly with Ranma. Vowing silently to herself, she swore that just because Ranma was fooling around with another girl was not a reason to give up on him. No doubt he was just seeking experience with some cheap tramp so that he would be a better lover to the woman that really won his heart. Men often did that, especially among the nobility. Kodachi would just have to accept she would not be Ranma's first. And as to that worthless little slut, Utena Tenjou, if she ever stepped foot into Ranma's life again, she would learn what it meant to play around with men that belonged to Kodachi Kunou.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ranma and Utena examined their handiwork. Putting together the little surprises would be sure to foil anyone else that would try to peep into the room. Utena had even been paranoid of someone trying to sneak in, and had taken necessary precautions.

Ranma looked it over again. "So let me get this straight. The person tries coming in through the window and trips over the wire." He pointed at the wire strung across the floor, next to the window. "That then knocks the pin out of the bottom of the top shelf." He looked at the rather intricate little system Utena had set up on the shelves next to, and high above, the window. If anyone tripped over the wire, it would knock out the first metal prong that held the shelf up. There was a second prong right below the first which would keep the shelf from falling altogether, but it would be tilted downward towards the window. "And once the shelf tilts over, my Pop's old bowling ball slides down and thumps the intruder in the head." They had modified the shelf slightly, so that the ball would not roll anywhere other than straight down the tilted shelf and to the floor below.

"Yep. It's just like the one I have set up in my dorm room. It's already knocked out three guys that tried to break in. I don't think there's anyone on the entire campus stupid enough to try it anymore."

Ranma looked at the system again. It was a sight to behold, but there was no way he was going to leave it up after Utena left. Although the idea of somehow tricking the false Genma into it held a certain appeal.

"I think you're going to be safe from anyone trying to peep at you. Especially with the other surprises you left outside. It's a good thing we don't use that area right below my window for anything," Ranma said. In his mind, he added that Utena definitely seemed to have some sort of phobia about peeping toms, but at least she didn't have a fascination for beating him up or drugging him. He just hoped his mother would understand when she discovered what Utena had done.

There was a knock on the door. Even before Ranma could ask who it was, his mother's voice said, "Your father's come back home. We're going to bed now. You two can do whatever you want, so don't worry about us. Good night."

Ranma gave a weak laugh to Utena and prayed she did not think he was the one that had encouraged his mother. "Look, it's getting late. I think I'll set up a futon in the living room, so if you need anything just give a holler."

"I will," Utena assured him as he left. Once the door shut behind him, she let out a sigh. The straight back and alert manner she had carried fell away as her shoulders slumped and her eyes half-way closed. After being in three fights in the last six hours, she was exhausted. Maintaining a facade of strength around Ranma had been difficult, but she had not wanted to show any weakness around him, especially since he had not shown the least sign of weakness since arriving at his home. Either he had been faking it too, or his ability to recover was inhuman. In either case, her pride would not allow her to appear weak. So it was only now she allowed her true state of being to be revealed where none could see.

The way the night with Ranma had gone convinced her that accepting his invitation had not been a mistake. Things had gone well, except for the peeper showing up and triggering her paranoia about them. She just hoped that little idiosyncrasy didn't scare Ranma. If he had attended Ohtori he would have understood. It just seemed that so many of the boys were perverts, especially the Morobishi triplets. Those ones were the worst. Not a single one of them seemed to understand the term, 'No, you pervert!'

But Ranma was nothing like that. Oh, she thought she had caught him staring at her a few times, but oddly enough, she did not mind. Actually, she found herself enjoying his admiring stares, and it wasn't like a lot of people didn't stare at her in any case. His just wasn't a leering kind of look. It was the sort of look she could get used to, if not from Ranma, then from someone else.

Unwillingly, she yawned. The odds of collapsing in exhaustion were increasing by the moment, and if she didn't get some sleep, she was going to fall over. She piled up her strewn clothing and determined it was still wet. She then had a choice of sleeping in the sweat suit Ranma had provided, or going with nothing at all. The night was hot, and there was nothing to worry about when it came to Ranma, so after checking to make sure there was no one outside her window, she turned off the lights, took off her clothes, and went under the covers for a good night's sleep.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

It was only an hour later that Ukyou Kuonji made her way to the Saotome residence. True, it was very late at night, but that made it the best time to use her ninja skills to sneak up to Ranma's bedroom and get a peek at him. And she was not a pervert. Ranma was her fiancé, so she was worried about him. That was all.

Knowing her ninja skills made her all but undetectable, she approached the area right under Ranma's window. She had never tried something like this with Ranma before, and she wanted to make sure she was undetectable. If she got caught, Ranma would just take it the wrong way. No way in the world was she going to let him find her.

As Ukyou approached the window, she mentally marked the best way up to his room. She thought that she was probably going to need her palm claws to help her climb, when she stepped on something slippery beneath the window. Almost the instance her foot hit, she slipped and landed fully in the stuff. The odor of it gave it away, even as she tried regaining her footing unsuccessfully. It was grease. Someone had coated the entire patch of ground directly under the window with the substance. Ukyou stepped back a few feet and tried to wipe it off of herself as best as she could. What the hell did Ranma think he was doing in leaving a big pile of grease right under his window like that?

Ukyou was now in a foul mood. She side-stepped the patch and began scaling the wall, moving back under Ranma's window after going halfway up the wall. There were no further problems as she made it to Ranma's window. The sill appeared too flimsy to take her weight, so she reached up with her hand to hold onto the overhanging roof. She wanted to get a good look through his window and make sure her entry was possible. It was as her hand gripped the edge of the roof that she encountered the second trap. The pins.

Utena had set several of them pointed upwards, in case someone tried hanging down from the roof to peep on her again. Ukyou drew her hand back as in pain and gave a yelp. The surprise, and quickness, of the withdrawal of her hand caused her to lose her balance and fall from her perch on the wall. With cat-like reflexes, she employed her superior ninja skills to break her fall…

*THUD*

…by using the ground to arrest her decent.

"Ohhh," Ukyou moaned as she stared at the stars above. That was no accident. Ranma had set up traps. Anti-ninja traps. And since she was the only ninja Ranma knew, that meant the traps must have been meant for her.

"You're going to have a lot of explaining to do, Ranma Saotome." The only thing Ukyou really regretted at that point was that she had not brought her battle spatula with her, fearful it would give away her identity if Ranma got lucky and saw her. Now she did not care what he saw, since she was going to give him a piece of her mind, and her fist. But the explanation from him would come first.

Once again she climbed the wall, this time checking for additional traps every step of the way. It took her nearly half an hour to climb the twenty five feet to Ranma's window, but she was making certain there would be no more mistakes. If her grandfather had seen her fall for such simple traps, he would dipped her in catnip, hung her upside down from a tree, and let the local mountain lions use her as a giant play toy to bat around.

Ukyou paused as she found herself outside of Ranma's window once again. This time she carefully looked over every inch of the window frame and sill. Seeing nothing, she went to the window next. Rather than take any chances on opening it and possibly setting off some sort of trap, she pulled out a suction cup and placed it on the glass. After that, she pulled out her glass cutter. There was a momentary twinge of guilt at essentially destroying Ranma's window, but that was quickly snuffed out when she remembered the indignity she had suffered at his hands. Her hands moved quickly as she cut out the glass. The suction cup prevented the glass from falling, and she eased it inside, sitting it on the floor.

Rather then stepping in immediately, she carefully examined the dark room by moonlight. It only took her a minute before she spotted the wire that was strung across the floor, right about where Ukyou would have put her foot had she blindly stepped in. After making certain it wasn't some kind of decoy and that there was another trap behind it, she silently stepped into the room. It took her only a moment to spot Ranma in his bed. He had the covers pulled up over his head, but that wasn't going to protect him from her wrath. She stalked over to the bed, grabbed the sheets, and ripped them off.

"Ranma! How dare you—" Ukyou stared in mute horror at what lay under the sheets. There was no Ranma present, just a girl. A naked girl. A naked girl whose eyes flew open, spotted Ukyou, and with a cry, struck her with two leg shots to the head.

Ukyou found herself stunned, as much by the idea that there was a naked woman in the bed as from the blows to her head. The physical trauma quickly surpassed the idea trauma as Utena picked up a massive book on quantum physics and nailed Ukyou in the back of the head with it, shouting "PERVERT!" at the top of her lungs.

Ukyou narrowly dodged a second book, and rushed to the window, no longer concerned about achieving some sort of revenge against Ranma. All she wanted to do was get out of the room alive. She was in such a hurry that she failed to remember the trip wire next to the window. She did remember it as her feet broke the wire and the sound of a shelf slipping a notch overhead drew her attention. She looked up just in time to have the bowling ball fall off the shelf and hit her squarely between the eyes. Utena didn't have a chance to hit Ukyou again as the ninja staggered forward and fell out the window, once again using the ground to break her decent.

The pain from the fall and being bludgeoned in the head nearly caused Ukyou to go unconscious. She was certain that she at least had a concussion, and there were stars dancing before her eyes. The stars were beginning to engage in a waltz when Ukyou noticed a small nightstand appear in the middle of them. It began to grow bigger by the second. Actually, it appeared quite large—

Ukyou barely rolled out of the way in time as the nightstand crashed into the spot where she had been a moment ago. It took everything she could to force herself to her feet and begin to run. Fear of the insane girl in Ranma's room provided all the impetus she needed to stagger away from the scene before the girl sent a bed after her or something. As disoriented as Ukyou was, she still had the face of the psychotic trollop etched in her mind. Once she found out the identity of the stranger, and the stars ceased doing a minuet around her head, there would be a big dose of payback unleashed.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

The screams coming from his room awakened Ranma. He was on his feet and heading up the stairs in a heartbeat. Taking them four at a time, he was quickly at the top and headed towards his room. He arrived just in time to see Utena hurl his nightstand out the window and curse as it hit the ground.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Ranma shouted as he rushed up to Utena's side.

"There was a pervert who broke into the room and tried to rape me!"

Ranma was surprised to see Utena nearly in tears. He looked out the window to see that there was indeed a masked figure, dressed in what appeared to be traditional ninja garb, staggering from the scene. All of a sudden, losing the nightstand wasn't that important. Ranma briefly considered following the pervert, but Utena seemed to need the reassurance more.

"What did he do to you?"

Utena began to collect her emotions. Waking up to see a masked man looming over her naked form triggered anger at first, but now that she was coming off her adrenaline rush she was beginning to feel vulnerable, and cold. "He ripped off my covers and saw me naked. It was horrible, the way he looked at my nude--" Utena suddenly realized why she felt so cold. She had been so distracted with what had happened, somewhere along the line she had forgotten that she was still quite naked.

"AHHH!" She slapped Ranma across the face.

Ranma's hand went to where she had made contact. "What did you do that for?"

"You're peeping at me, too!"

Ranma had been so caught up in events that he had not even realized that she was indeed. naked. He quickly covered his eyes. "I didn't even notice. Are you happy?"

Ranma heard her gasp, then say, "Are you saying my body is so unattractive that you wouldn't remember looking at?"

"Of course not." To prove his point, he removed his hands, only to receive another slap. He went back to covering his eyes. "I thought you just said you wanted me to see you naked."

"I did not!" Utena protested.

Something occurred to Ranma, and he considered removing his hands. "I don't see what you're getting so defensive about. It's not like you didn't get to see me naked when I was in the shower."

Utena blushed at that. It was true. She did owe him one, and what was worse was that she felt herself becoming unexpectedly excited at his close proximity. And it wasn't a bad sort of excitement. Before she felt herself become any worse, she grabbed the bedsheet and wrapped herself up in it. "It's safe to look now," she told Ranma.

Ranma removed his hands from his eyes. In many ways, Utena looked even more attractive with her features hidden than when she had worn nothing at all. He was about to stutter out something when another visitor dropped by the room.

Genma took one look at the scene through his sleepy eyes. "Ranma, come over here."

"It's not what it looks like!" Ranma blurted out. If word of this got out, his mother would engage Utena to him on the spot.

"I said come here, boy."

There was nothing else to do. With his head hung low, Ranma walked over to the man residing in his father's body. Genma took him around the corner and out of earshot of Utena.

"Pop," Ranma said, forgetting for a moment exactly who the man was. "I know it looked really bad in there, but I didn't do anything with her. You have to believe me."

"Of course, I believe you," Genma answered.

Ranma's jaw nearly hit the floor. "You do?"

"Of course. That sort of misunderstanding happened all of the time where I originally came from," Genma reassured him. "You have no idea how many times things like that happened to me."

As difficult as it was for him to admit, Ranma's estimation of the man went up by a degree.

Genma placed his hands on Ranma's shoulders. "There's just one thing I want you to know."

Ranma tensed up. "Yes?"

"Remember, if you marry this Utena girl, you still need to make either Nabiki or Kodachi your first wife. Their happiness is paramount."

Ranma refused to facefault, no matter how badly the other parts of his mind wanted to.

xxxxxxxxxx

The rest of the night passed without incident. Ranma and Utena both woke up early the next morning in order for Utena to catch the first train back to Ohtori. Under protest, they allowed Nodoka to serve them breakfast. The moment they were finished, they were out the door and headed towards the station. Neither said anything at first, uncertain of how to begin. They were almost there when Utena finally spoke.

"Thanks a lot for helping me out last night."

"Sure. It wasn't a problem." Ranma felt as though it was his turn to say something. "Heck. I should apologize to you for what you went through last night."

"Oh no," Utena insisted. "It wasn't your fault that prowler broke in."

"I'm just glad you weren't hurt," Ranma said. If anything had happened to her, he would never have forgiven himself.

Utena laughed. "I know how to take care of guys like that. He's just lucky he fell out of the window before I had a chance to really lay into him." She gave a few punches at an invisible assailant. That gave Ranma a hearty laugh.

The two walked with an easier silence after that. It wasn't until they purchased her ticket and the train pulled up that they spoke again.

"You still owe me a rematch," Ranma told her.

"No problem. We can have it as soon as our schedules are clear."

The train doors opened, and Utena felt an odd reluctance to leave. To her, it appeared that Ranma might have felt the same way. Just as the doors were about to close, she leaned forward and gave him a peck on the cheek before darting back on the train. Oddly, she felt as though a burden had been lifted off her shoulders. She watched him touch his cheek as the doors closed, then gave him a warm smile and waved as the train began to move. Once Ranma was out of sight, she found herself a seat and waited for the train to arrive at Ohtori. It was odd how so many things could happen all in one day. She was very surprised to feel a slight melancholy at not being able to see Ranma for some time, and even then it would probably be only once more. If only there was some excuse she could come up with to see him after the match, that would probably solve the mood she was in. It was not as though she was in love with the guy, she just found him interesting.

Utena stared at the skyline as the city passed by beneath her, picturing the clouds in an image similar to Ranma's face. It was only as she was almost to Ohtori that she felt as though she had forgotten something.

xxxxxxxxxx

Nodoka sighed to herself as she went about cleaning Ranma's room. A mother's work was never done. The bedsheets were strewn halfway across the floor, and Nodoka could have sworn there was something missing from the room. It was as she was picking up some errant clothing on the floor that she spotted a piece that stood out from the others. Somehow it had ended up under the dresser and out of sight. As she grabbed it and pulled it out, she discovered what made it so unusual.

It was a pair of panties.

Nodoka almost jumped up and down in joy. Now all of the screaming from the night before made sense. "Oh, Ranma! You're so manly!"

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ranma was still touching his cheek where Utena had kissed it. As nice as it had been, he could still feel the distant sound of thunder as a sense of foreboding began to overwhelm him. The plan was only to see her one more time, but he was hard pressed to remember the last time one of his plans had worked out.

"I'm so doomed," he wailed to no one in particular.

And all across town, there were four women whose names started with Akane, Ukyou, Nabiki, and Kodachi, who would have agreed with him.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The end, for now. Expect to see these events followed upon in the rest of Quantum Destinies.


	5. Ohtori Academy Blues

Prologue

Saionji Kyouchi turned his gaze downward. The highest balcony of the 'Tower of Roses,' provided a view of the school that could be rivaled only by a bird in flight. Saionji himself stood at the edge of the balcony, one foot on the top of the railing, allowing him to look down on the populace far below. He liked looking down on people.

"You're not going to throw ten yen pieces over the edge and yell, 'Look! It's raining money!' to the people below again, are you?" Touga Kiryu asked from his position several feet behind Saionji as he sat lackadaisically in a straight-backed, wrought iron chair. The shapes of roses were etched in the ironwork throughout the seat.

"I most certainly will not!" Saionji snapped. "They are beneath my charity."

"I take it that you're broke again?"

"My father is simply late in updating my accounts. I'm certain that he'll be sending some money soon." Saionji shifted uncomfortably, then decided to change the topic. "Today seems rather dull, wouldn't you agree?"

Touga sipped some wine, pulled out his not-so-little black book, and began going over the numbers within. He didn't bother to look at Saionji as he said, "It feels as though a great storm is building on the horizon, bringing with it a great change in all of our lives."

Saionji gave a toss of his head, causing his long, greenish hair to flow in the slight breeze. "That sort of talk might impress those flighty women you seem to enjoy leading on, but it is wasted on me. Today is going to be boring. I can feel it in my bones."

Touga looked up from his book to stare his vice president squarely in the eye. "I'm not being loquacious. There's something in the air. I can feel it."

"Prove it!" Saionji snapped. "Make something exciting happen."

At that moment, a tremendous bolt of lightning flashed from the skies and struck the balcony, lancing no more than five feet from where Saionji stood. It struck a statue of a nymph, shattering it into a thousand pieces of white and blackened marble.

Touga gave a smile of pure evil towards Saionji.

"Well? Where is it?" Saionji asked.

In thirty generations of Kiryus, not one member of the noble line ever went through the indignity of facefaulting. Touga was not about to start, though he had never been so sorely tempted in doing it. Instead, he said, "Just wait for it, and it shall come."

And at the front gates of Ohtori, Kodachi Kunou approached.

Ohtori Academy Blues

(The sequel to Roses and Swords)

[i.e.: Yet Another Side Story to Quantum Destinies]

xxxxxxxxxx

Any and all C+C is appreciated. You can contact me at

.

This one might be rougher than usual. No prereaders this time out. ^_^

Angcobra is now storing all of my fics, including Roses and Swords, at

.

Standard disclaimer:

I don't own any of the folks from Ranma ½, Revolutionary Girl Utena, or any of the other series cameos.

The story of Quantum Destinies is owned by Jurai Knight. You can find his stuff at any of these fabulous retail outlets:

Blood Blade has put it on his webpage at:

(Another copy of Roses and Swords is also there)

It is also at Fanfiction Selections at:  
.

(And here too ^_^)

Cursed One has it at his Anime Fanfiction page at:  
.com/Cursed_  
(but not here)

Now with that out of the way…

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kodachi Kunou carefully examined the unique entryway to Ohtori Academy. She had heard of the 'Wall of Thorns' before; it was unofficially considered one of the Seven Modern Wonders of the Empire.

The wall, and the academy it surrounded, was erected in 1825 at the request of one of the then Emperor's advisors, a shadowy figure known only as Dios. What role he actually served the Emperor was unclear, though none questioned him openly. No drawings or pictures of the man existed, save a single silhouette drawn by one of the Emperor's concubines. No one knew for what purpose Dios had the academy built, but it was rumored that he personally designed the entire school, from the highest tower to the smallest carved rose.

The architecture of the school was very unusual, especially for a society as steeped in tradition as Japan was at the time. It was a mix of several foreign styles, heavily influenced by both Greek and Roman characteristics. The resemblance was easy to see in every building and area of the school. Even stranger was the dominance of roses that permeated the entire length of the academy. Everywhere one turned there was something that involved roses, whether it be in the style, design, or an actual rose garden. There was nowhere that it did not exist. Extremely strange indeed.

Discovering the location of Utena Tenjou's school had been no problem. One random search on her computer and Kodachi had discovered over two dozen webpages dedicated exclusively to 'The Prince of Ohtori.' That title rankled Kodachi. The girl was nothing more than a commoner, and, aside from the gender issue, had no business claiming a title such as that. It also meant she was undoubtedly egotistical if she carried the airs of being a member of the nobility. Like most of the other girls Kodachi detested, it was unlikely Utena would acknowledge her proper place as subordinate to herself, and might very well become irate when she was informed in no uncertain terms that Ranma had only used her for a one-time sexual fling and that she was to have no further contact with him. It might very well be that further steps were going to have to be taken.

Kodachi entered the school's grounds, and turned to the left, as she began plotting additional ways to keep Ohtori's would-be prince away from Kodachi's own.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Had Kodachi lingered several minutes longer, she would have run into someone she had more than a passing familiarity with, and would no doubt have found her energies diverted onto another course of action. Instead, she was not present when Akane Tendou approached the gates of Ohtori.

There were many that would have claimed that someone as driven to be physically the best as Akane Tendou was, would have had no appreciation for something as artistically beautiful as the wall surrounding Ohtori. They would have been wrong. Whereas it was true that Akane preferred to spend the majority of her attention on such things as the Arena fights and her own training, she had a great appreciation for artwork. However, she disliked openly acknowledging that, concerned that people might think less of her fighting abilities if they knew she enjoyed such a non-physical related pursuit. Also, she was uncertain if that was the sort of thing her mother would have approved of. She had raised her daughters on disciplines of the body, not of the mind.

So it was when Akane approached the impressive gates that the purpose of her journey was momentarily forgotten. She stood in silent awe of the intricate work before her and moved closer to the wall, allowing her hand to play over several of the lifelike vines, staying mindful of the stone thorns that still looked menacing despite their age. The texture of the work was unbelievable, as though the whole thing had been erected just a few days ago. She felt it was almost as though a gorgon out of Greek mythology had somehow turned real plants into stone.

She stood there, gazing at the wall for several moments before returning her attention to the matter at hand. There was a specific reason she had come to Ohtori, and it was not to admire its impressive architecture. Luck had taken Akane by the hand and led her to discovering the identity of the girl that had dared to put the moves on Ranma. It had happened only several days after the incident at Ranma's house, as Akane spoke with Sakura, that she overheard someone making a remark about Utena helping her school win in a fencing tournament against Furinkan and how unbeatable she was, even though she was a looker. Akane was mildly curious about a person that was dubbed unbeatable, and asked the guy who he was talking about.

The speaker seemed a little embarrassed, but showed Akane the picture of Utena. It had not been in the youth's hand for more than a second before Akane tore it out of his grasp and stared at the photo so evilly that everyone was certain her gaze would burn holes in it. After calling the picture several unpleasant names, she grabbed the boy by the collar and demanded he tell her everything about Utena. Once she got the location of the school out of him, she made her plans on what to do about meddling girls with bizarre hair coloring.

And now she was there. It was going to be a simple matter of telling Utena 'keep the hell away from Ranma, or you'll be sorry.' And if the girl was stupid enough to try to play off the warning, she'd find out what it meant to be really sorry for trespassing on other girls' boyfriends.

Akane, as per her nature, went straight into the academy's grounds.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Nabiki tried getting a better look at the rapidly dwindling form. For the briefest of moments, she thought it had been Akane that had went into Ohtori, but that was absurd; her younger sister wouldn't have had any reason to go there. More likely it was just someone that had the same haircut as Akane, and it had been a long distance away when Nabiki had spotted the girl that had been standing outside of the gates.

Shaking her head clear of such thoughts, she refocused them on her true mission: telling Utena Tenjou she was not to come within fifty meters of Ranma Saotome ever again. Nabiki would have preferred 'informing' Ranma of the rules as well, but she was not foolish enough to believe that anything good would come of openly browbeating him into submission. She was going to have to play things differently when it came to him.

Nabiki was a little surprised at how angry she was with Utena. The level of hate was actually greater than what she usually felt when she saw Ranma and Kodachi together. A quick self-examination of her feelings made her wonder if it was because Utena had gotten farther with Ranma in one day than Nabiki had in the weeks she had invested in trying to get him. In the end, it was irrelevant. After today, Utena Tenjou was not going to be a factor anymore. Words would be what Nabiki used first –she was a thinker after all— but if her warning to stay away fell on deaf ears, then it might come down to roughing up the pink-haired tramp a little bit. The upside to that was it would prove that Nabiki had surpassed Ranma again. It only made sense since Utena had beaten Ranma, and Nabiki would have beaten Utena. A physical confrontation would also be more satisfying, since it would also send a clear message on what Nabiki thought of women that stayed overnight at Ranma's house.

Nabiki entered the academy grounds, and decided to make a left. It was only a matter of time now.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A grappling hook anchored itself onto the far side of the wall that surrounded Ohtori. Moments later it was followed by a figure of average height, dressed in the formal looking black uniform of a male member of Ohtori Academy. The shadowy figure was over in an instant and crouched behind several bushes that were located near the wall. It darted its head over the bushes and looked around. A smile slowly formed on the figure's face as it realized its plan had worked flawlessly and no one had detected its presence as it entered the academy grounds.

Ukyou Kuonji stood up and began walking with the easy gait of someone who had traveled the academy a thousand times before. Ukyou had to hand it to herself, she now blended in perfectly with the rest of the student population and wouldn't draw a bit of attention to herself. That was just the way she liked it. That way Utena Tenjou would never see her coming until it was too late.

Discovering just who had been the naked, pink-haired slut in Ranma's bed was had not been that difficult for a ninja of her skills. A few questions here and there, and an article in the paper of the winner of a fencing tournament, with accompanying photo, had been all that Ukyou needed in tracking Utena down. Warning the tramp of what was going to happen in the future concerning Ranma was going to take more precision though.

Like the good ninja she was, Ukyou, while in disguise, studied the lair of her opponent, making notes on the size and dimensions of Ohtori Academy. There was no telling how many allies Utena might have, so confronting her alone and in a one-on-one situation was going to take some skill. After observing the academy for two days, Ukyou knew she had a great plan. She would steal a men's academy outfit, disguise herself as a guy, then discover the exact location of Utena Tenjou and follow her (as only a ninja could), until the girl was alone, then Ukyou could deliver her warning. And if the slut insisted she would continue sleeping with Ranma, Ukyou would beat the living crap out of her until she gave in to her demands.

As she set out to blend into the Ohtori population, Ukyou took note that though she might not have thought much of Utena Tenjou, there was one thing she had to concede in the pink-haired girl's favor. Utena had really good fashion sense. The uniforms the men at Ohtori wore were far superior to the silly skirts and blouses the girls there had to wear.

xxxxxxxxxx

At the highest balcony of the Tower of Roses, Touga Kiryu gazed down at the world below through the opera glasses he kept with him at all times. From there he could see every inch of Ohtori, including the area of the wall Ukyou had just leaped over. His gaze followed her as she made her way into the student population.

Saionji had already left, but as was Touga's wont, he spoke out loud to himself. Just because others could not hear you boast about your superiority was no reason not to announce it to the world. "Well, well, well. I never thought he would have the nerve to show up here again. It appears that even I underestimated how correct I was about the storm on the horizon. It appears it truly is going to be an eventful day."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kodachi Kunou began to wonder if it had been a good idea to arrive at Ohtori in her Imperial Academy uniform. Her clothing marked her as a stranger, and she was finding herself the object of a great many stares. Ordinarily, she might have enjoyed being the center of attention, but given the task before her, it would have been better if no one had taken note of her presence. If the rumors she had heard were true, Utena was immensely popular and would have many friends that would flock to her aid if it came down to a fight between the girls. A woman of loose morals like Utena Tenjou would stoop to anything, including having others fight her battles for her.

The stares Kodachi received were continuing to vex her when a male voice called out from behind, "Kodachi Kunou, is that you?"

Kodachi turned to see a young man, about her age, approach. His uniform was different from the other members of the school, being a tight-fitting white, almost military-style, shirt and blue pants. He was slender of build with black hair that was cut short all around, and about the same height as Kodachi. She took note of his face, thinking his somewhat angular face as the sort most women, including Kodachi herself, would mark as at least passingly attractive. The face was familiar, but Kodachi remained unsure of his identity.

"I know it's been close to a decade since you last saw me, but surely you remember who I am?"

The look of disappointment he gave triggered Kodachi's memory. "Miki Karou! Of course I remember you. We grew up together."

That was not far from the truth. The Karous had lived only two estates away from the Kunous' own manor. Almost as soon as she could walk, Kodachi had frequently visited Miki, and he did the same as well. The two played together frequently and for many hours on end. Both families were of the same rank in the nobility, and the relationship met with the approval of the heads of both households. As they got a little older, there were many afternoons where Kodachi would listen to Miki play, 'The Sunlit Garden' (a song he had composed himself at the age of five) on his piano. Ironically, that piece became incredibly famous and was played everywhere, even in lands outside of the Empire. Kodachi had always felt a special link to the song, since she was the first person Miki had ever played it for. He had treated her so nicely that she distinctly remembered having a crush on him, though as most girls at the age of six she lacked the courage to say anything about it.

That time of her life had been wonderful, but it all came to a sudden end. Kodachi had only been seven when the Karou estate had burned to the ground. Since the family had started to rise in prominence, they elected to sell their lands and move closer to the capital. Kodachi remembered that tearful farewell on the day she discovered Miki was moving away for good, never to be heard from again. Until today.

"It's been too long." Kodachi chose to play it safe and greeted him in as gracious and ladylike a way as she could, uncertain as to how Miki would react since so much time had passed. There was no telling how much he might have changed over the years. Even after seeing him for a few moments, she could tell that he had developed the formal bearing that befitted a noble of his station. The embrace she wanted to give him would have been improper, especially out in public as they were, so she controlled herself and maintained her distance. Although the bright smile Miki gave her eased her concern. It was the same warm smile he had given her so long ago.

"I can't believe how many years it's been," he said. "You look incredible."

Kodachi felt a blush rise to her cheeks. She hoped he didn't notice it. "And I see you have become every inch the lord your father was."

Miki gave a nervous chuckle at that. "You're very flattering, though I hardly think I'm half the man my father is. You've certainly become a beautiful lady."

Kodachi felt her pulse race as he drew closer to her, until he was no more than a half foot away. Now that he was next to her, she was able to see that he was a couple of centimeters taller than her. It felt a little odd, since Miki had been short for his age when growing up, and always Kodachi was the one looking down to him. Now he was almost as tall as Ranma. As the thought of Ranma entered her mind, she realized that she was beginning to feel the same tingly sensation that she usually felt around him, which she found very curious.

Miki was also finding himself the victim of the same tingling that Kodachi felt. It was recognizable as similar to the one he felt when he was in Utena, Juri, or, annoyingly, that stuck-up snob Nanami Kiryuu's presence. That he was now feeling it around Kodachi as well was a pleasant surprise. His agile mind began to wonder why all four girls seemed to affect him as no others did. What made them so unique, other than all of them being remarkable women?

After several moments of awkward silence, Kodachi spoke again. "I could not help but notice that your outfit differs somewhat from the rest of the student body."

"I'm a member of the Student Council," Miki explained. "All of the members wear them on campus. Actually, I wear it a lot of the time anyway."

"Really?" Kodachi asked in obvious interest. The Miki she had grown up with never seemed the type that would be interested in politics.

Noticing Kodachi's obvious interest, Miki felt his pride swell. Uncharacteristically, he was seized by the urge to start bragging to her. "Yes. In fact, I am the president of the first-year cadet student body."

"That's interesting." Kodachi found herself insatiably curious as to what sort of man Miki was now, and wanted to know everything. Miki was only too happy to oblige.

xxxxxxxxxxx

About fifty meters away, a far different scene from the happy reunion was occurring. Nanami Kiryu had always been fascinated by animals. Growing up, her parents had to scold her on numerous occasions for getting filthy when she would go out onto the estate and try to follow snakes, birds, rabbits, or any other small animal that lived on the grounds of her home. As she got older, she realized that she was a noble lady and could no longer do such things, but sometimes her heart yearned for those simple pleasures. With such passion for animal life in her heart, it was small wonder that when the Academy decided to allow a small menagerie of foreign animals to be exhibited, Nanami was there, watching them set up the displays.

The exhibit was composed of animals from the Imperial-controlled territory of Australia. It was like heaven for Nanami. There were koalas, platypuses, wombats, and even an extraordinarily rare chu-chu mouse from the wilds of the outback. Nanami thought it was adorable, especially with the earring someone put in its ear and those large intelligent eyes it had. But there was one other animal that Nanami liked above all the others, even the chu-chu mouse. It was easily the most handsome and interesting creature in the whole exhibit.

"It's really a boxing kangaroo?" Nanami asked.

"Yep," Mick Dundee, the man in charge of the menagerie answered. He was a forty year old that had been born in Australia, but had spent over half of his life in Japan, taking his menagerie place to place as he and his business were wanted. In reality, his Japanese was flawless, but he would usually lay on a thick accent that made him seem more exotic to the paying customers. He didn't bother to use it on Nanami. There seemed little point given the girl's rapt attention to the animals. It would have been wasted.

Nanami looked the kangaroo over again. It was nearly six feet tall, and looked like all of the kangaroos she had seen in the Nagoya Zoo, except for the boxing gloves on its hands and the oversized pink sunglasses over its eyes. "How do you get it to fight?"

"All you have to do is show him a picture of someone, then say attack, and he'll do it until they're knocked out."

"Really?" Nanami asked. "Do you mean if I showed him a picture of a girl, say, with pink hair, he would attack her?"

"Yep."

Nanami's eyes fairly sparkled with joy. "I'll be right back." And with that she took off for the direction of her room at top speed.

"Weird girl," the owner commented as he left the kangaroo to take care of his other animals.

The person that had overheard the whole conversation moved from behind the koala cages it had been hidden behind. It cast a baleful glare towards the distant figures of Miki Karou and Kodachi Kunou. "So, you'd dare to stand me up in favor of some worthless trollop, Miki. I'll show you!" The figure opened up the door to the kangaroo's pen and proceeded to show it a picture. "Here's your target. His name is Miki Karou and he's a big jerk." The figure then pointed to where the real Miki was talking with Kodachi. "Now take these ridiculous sunglasses off and attack."

The kangaroo became concerned as it squinted in the direction of the two blurs in the distance. Why had the stupid human taken off its glasses? Without them, he was nearly blind. The kangaroo gave a sigh as the human ordered him to attack again. It had a job to do if it wanted to get fed, so it hopped forward and hoped it went after the blur to the right.

Kodachi was still talking when a girl that was several meters away from them shouted out hello to Miki. He shouted a greeting back, then began to renew his conversation with Kodachi. He had barely gotten another word out when he said, "Wait. I've got to give that girl back a book I borrowed. Stay here and I'll be right back."

Kodachi said she understood and would wait as Miki grabbed his bookbag and ran into the building the girl had disappeared into. Happiness began to fill Kodachi as she thanked the gods for granting her the luck to run into Miki again. She was still smiling when a cry of "Look out! Runaway boxing kangaroo!" filled the air. Turning in the direction of the voice, Kodachi found herself confronted by what indeed appeared to be a boxing kangaroo. The gloves were the giveaway.

"You've got to be kidding me," was all she got out before a bell rang in the distance and the match began.

xxxxxxxxxx

Akane Tendou continued to walk the halls of Ohtori Academy. She had already covered two buildings and there was still no sign of Utena Tenjou. It irked her as to how one girl could avoid being spotted. She had pink hair and wore a boy's uniform. How hard could it have been to find her, even in a crowd? It appeared to Akane that she might have to resort to asking someone where Utena might be. She had not up to that point because she knew that Utena was popular, and if someone tipped her off to Akane trying to find her so they could fight, Utena might run away or get a gang together to try to take her on. Either way it felt like a bad idea. Locating Utena on her own, and without any advanced warning, was the best strategy Akane could come up with.

She was traveling down yet another corridor, looking in the rooms as she went past, when someone bumped into her. Caught off guard by the taller man –who had not been paying attention to where he was going— Akane found herself propelled backwards about a foot. If it were not for her superior sense of balance, she would have found herself thrown to the floor from the force of the collision.

Once recovered, Akane got a better look at the man with the odd greenish tint to his hair. A reprimand about clumsiness was on her lips when the taller man beat her to it by snapping, "Watch where you are going, you clumsy little fool!"

Outrage at the accusation stilled Akane's tongue for a moment. The second passed as she said, "You're the one who ran into me, you pompous asshole. How dare you say I—" The slap delivered to her face cut off the rest of the tirade.

"No mere girl may speak so to Saionji Kyouchi," he sneered down at Akane.

"You slapped me," she said in open disbelief as she held the place where Saionji had struck her face.

"And I shall do so again if you do not get out of my way." He swaggered a little, satisfied he had made his point to the impudent little girl.

"You slapped me," Akane repeated in the exact same tone as before.

Saionji brought his hand up and aimed for Akane's other cheek. His hand descended, but just as it was about to make contact, Akane's hand shot up and grabbed Saionji's wrist. The taller man was surprised to find Akane's grip was like iron, and he could not budge his hand an inch. "Unhand me, you little bitch!"

"You slapped me."

Saionji noticed that there was no longer any disbelief in her voice and the look she shot him was anything but cowering.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Nabiki Tendou examined the campus of Ohtori with a careful eye as she walked around, searching for Utena while getting an idea of what the school was like. The atmosphere was very different from that of the Imperial Academy. It felt much more relaxed, yet there was also something unusual about the place as well. There was a sort of quiet that held power, or at least so it seemed. It was an interesting place, to be certain.

Unlike Kodachi and Akane, Nabiki held no reservations about asking someone for help in locating Utena. If the person she asked seemed inquisitive about why she was looking for the pink-haired girl, Nabiki already had a lie prepared about returning something of Utena's to cover herself. That was the simplest way to find the target and get the whole sordid affair involving her put to rest.

Nabiki picked out a girl, standing alone, to approach. As she got closer, Nabiki saw that the girl was about her age, dressed in the standard Ohtori girl's blouse and skirt. She was very attractive. The only unusual thing about her was that her hair was green in color. Feeling there was nothing to fear, she approached the girl. "Excuse me, I wanted to ask you something."

Nabiki noticed the girl examine her very closely, and for the briefest of moments, thought she had an almost hungry look in her eyes. The look vanished as quickly as it appeared, if it had ever been there in the first place. "Of course. How can I help you?"

The odd glance had put Nabiki a little on edge, but the happy, helpful smile the girl gave her now put her mind at ease. She now felt certain she had been mistaken about the look before. "I'm visiting a friend here and I have to return a book I borrowed from her. I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I lost her address and can't remember where she lives." Nabiki felt the lie was good enough to hold up under casual observation.

"Who's your friend?"

"Utena Tenjou." Nabiki watched the girl's reaction to the name carefully.

"I know who she is," the girl said, then gave a thoughtful little glance towards Nabiki. "In fact, I'm pretty sure I saw her out by one of the rose gardens over by Mujuru Hall just a little while ago. Why don't I take you there? That way we'll get there quicker and might find her before she leaves."

Nabiki wondered how she had gotten so lucky and thanked the girl for her generosity. The two set off for the rose garden immediately.

The girl struck up a conversation as they continued to walk. "My name's Michiru Kaiou, what's yours?"

"Nabiki Tendou." A slight twinge of guilt struck Nabiki as she realized she had forgotten her manners in not introducing herself sooner to the polite girl.

"You're from the Imperial Academy, aren't you?" Michiru asked.

"What makes you say that?"

"Your security cadet uniform. I thought I recognized it as the Imperial Academy design."

Nabiki found herself admiring the girl's powers of observation. That same perceptiveness might cause some problems too, if Michiru asked too many questions. "Yes, I am." Nabiki kept the explanation as brief as possible.

Michiru pressed on. "Are you close friends with Utena?"

"Not really," Nabiki admitted, which was the truth. "We sort of met through a mutual acquaintance. We don't know each other all that well, though she made a definite impression in the brief time that I've known her."

"I don't really know her too well either," Michiru admitted. "I tried to get to know her once. Unfortunately, I found out she had different preferences."

"What?" Nabiki asked.

"We're different sort of people," Michiru clarified. "That, and one of her stuck-up bitch girlfriends threatened me. I still have to pay Wakaba back for that." The last comment was more of a personal thought that was spoken aloud than a statement meant for Nabiki. Michiru seemed to realize that and focused on her companion once again. "Utena is a very impressive person. She has a commanding presence, like yourself."

"Ah, thanks." Nabiki was uncertain of what to make of the comment. It was very flattering, yet there seemed to be the hint of something else behind those words, some veiled meaning.

The conversation was briefly discontinued as the duo entered a large multicolored rose garden that was tucked out of sight between two large buildings. It was very big, and to Nabiki's eyes appeared a little strange, and not just because of its location. It took her a moment to figure out why that was. "It's in the shape of a rose."

Nabiki had been correct. From the air it would have been more obvious, but even at ground level, her sharp mind was able to figure out what the strange design the rose beds formed. The border of the garden was rounded, and the oddly curving stone paths that separated the flower beds from one another, formed the beds into the petals of a rose. It was a very appealing design.

Nabiki was still admiring the arrangement, when Michiru suddenly grabbed her and pressed their bodies together. "Oh, Nabiki. You ignite the fires in my breast in a way no other woman ever has," she announced in an unusually loud voice.

"What?!" Nabiki barely got out. It was one of the few times in her life where she had been caught completely off guard and didn't have the faintest idea of what to say. The surprise was so great she didn't even try to get out of Michiru's grasp.

"You have no idea of how attracted I am to you. I want you to kiss me now," Michiru whispered hoarsely as she placed a hand behind Nabiki's head and drew their faces closer together.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

The rage in the voice that had come from behind Nabiki snapped her out of her shock. She turned, Michiru somehow keeping her grip and spinning with her. Before them stood a young woman. She had short, close cropped blonde hair, very broad shoulders, and stood a good three centimeters taller than Nabiki. Her outfit was the dark gray design of an Ohtori Security Cadet. Its style differed from the Imperial Academy design in both a flaring of the outfit at the shoulders and the way the column of buttons lined up on the far left side of the top rather than down the middle. That, and a face full of rage, helped to accent the differences between her and Nabiki.

"Oh, Haruka. I didn't see you there." The wicked grin Michiru gave indicated otherwise.

Haruka Ten'ou ignored the remark and focused on Nabiki instead. "You little Imperial Academy cow. How dare you bring your pathetic ass here and poach on Ohtori turf. The sluts there aren't good enough for you?"

"This isn't what it looks like!" Nabiki protested.

"You mean you aren't holding my woman in your arms and trying to seduce her from me?"

"We've had this argument before," Michiru said before Nabiki could utter a response to the accusation leveled against her. "I'm not your property. I can sleep with anyone I want. Besides," she slid a hand along Nabiki's posterior. "Nab-chan excites me in ways you were never able to."

"What are you talking about?!" Nabiki roared. "We only just met ten minutes ago!"

Michiru summoned pain into her voice. "How can you say that after last night?"

Nabiki decided she had had enough of the little game and refused to play anymore. She roughly pushed Michiru away, nearly causing her to stumble and fall.

"You Impy slut! I'm going to rip off your tits and stuff them down your throat!" Haruka shouted as she charged Nabiki. No one got away with laying a hand on her Michiru.

Nabiki barely got out of the way of the fist leveled at her. Even as she regained her balance from the dodge, Haruka recovered as well and swung a punch for her head. Once, twice, Nabiki got out of the way of the blows, then lashed out with one of her own. Much to her own surprise, Haruka easily blocked it and responded with a high crescent kick, connecting with her opponent's temple. Defensive skills came to the forefront as Nabiki rolled with the blow, gaining both the distance and time she needed to recover. Her hand went to her temple where Haruka connected. It was painful to the touch.

"All right, Flower Child," Nabiki used the derogatory name some used when referring to Ohtori Academy students. "Bring it on so I can tell everyone back at school what a bunch of wimps you Ohtori bitches are." No more words were exchanged as the fight truly began.

A bright smile blossomed on Michiru as she looked on and admired her handiwork. It was so much fun having women fight over her.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Ukyou Kuonji was beginning to wonder what was wrong with her plan. Infiltrating the school twice without being spotted had been easy. Stealing a male cadet's uniform from the men's locker room had been easy. But the problems had seemed to come as she walked across the campus in her search for Utena. As students laid eyes on her, many seemed to stare in awe or recoil in fright and ran away. She had perfected her male mannerisms for years, so there was no chance they could see through her disguise. The outfit she wore was indistinguishable from the other male cadets. She went into the men's room and examined herself in a mirror to see if she could spot some oddity which was making her stand out in the crowd, but there was nothing.

So she continued walking around, gaining a variety of unusual reactions from the crowd. She was almost desperate enough to ask someone what was wrong when she found herself confronted by one of the students. It was a girl, slightly taller than her and maybe a year older. She was attractive, had curly, red hair that extended down to her shoulders, and wore a white uniform that reminded Ukyou of the male cadet's outfits. What captured Ukyou's attention was the look of pure anger on the girl's face. She was so enraged that the muscles on her face were actually twitching. Ukyou heard several people around her say, "I wondered when Juri would show up."

"You have a lot of nerve showing your face around here again," Juri spat out.

Ukyou looked behind her to make sure the girl wasn't talking to someone else. No one was there. "Umm. I've never been here before. You must have me mistaken for someone else." Ukyou hadn't thought it would be possible to get Juri any angrier. She was wrong.

"You pig! How dare you try to play dumb with me! It's only been a year, but don't think that even a hundred years would erase the image of your face that's burned in my mind!" Juri shouted.

"No, really. I'm not whoever you think I am. My name's, uh," Ukyou had to come up with one fast. "Ryouga Hibiki."

Juri did not react to the lie. "Give it up, Ryuunosuke. I don't know what your game is, or why you could have possibly come back here unless it was to rub my face in my loss, but it doesn't matter. You shall pay! Sword girl!"

A girl appeared next to Juri, bearing two swords in their scabbards. She handed one to Juri. With a flick of her wrist the sword was pulled from its sheath and pointed in Ukyou's direction. "Don't worry," Juri said. "Unlike you, I have some honor, you backstabber."

Juri nodded her head towards the sword girl. The girl went up to Ukyou and handed her the remaining sword. Ukyou accepted it more out of reflex than anything else, though she did not yet draw it from its scabbard. "Listen to me. My name is not Ryuunosuke. I have never been to Ohtori Academy or seen you before in my life. I'm just looking for Utena Tenjou. Once I find her, I'll be out of your life forever."

Juri's sword remained in its guard position as she shifted her feet into a combat stance. "Play ignorant all you want, but it will do you no good. For the crimes you committed against my heart, there can be never be forgiveness, only blood and revenge. Prepare yourself!"

Ukyou left the sword where it was. "No. I refuse to engage you in a pointless fight because of a case of mistaken identity." She was about to add more, but had to duck to the side as Juri's sword thrust nearly caught her in the face.

Juri backed up. "Don't worry, Ryuunosuke. For what we meant to each other in the past, I won't kill you. I'll just scar you so you'll forever remember the price of betrayal."

A second sword thrust nearly found its mark, and Ukyou at last drew her own weapon. The look on Juri's face indicated she wouldn't listen any longer. The fight might not have been of her choosing, but Ukyou was damned if she was going to play pincushion because some psycho with a sword thought she was someone else. She would teach the Juri girl the price one paid for attacking a ninja of the Kuonji clan.

xxxxxxxxxx

As Miki Karou walked back to where he had left Kodachi, he felt very pleased with himself. It was turning out to be an unexpectedly wonderful day. Kodachi Kunou had reentered his life, and everything seemed so much brighter that it was almost as though nothing could go wrong. He was also surprised by how emotional he felt about it. Had someone at the start of the day mentioned that he would meet Kodachi, and he would feel so ecstatic about her return, he would have called them foolish. Certainly he and Kodachi had been close, but that had been ten years ago, and it had only been a childhood friendship. Something to be treasured, but also not something that could be taken that seriously. Yet almost from the first instant he had laid eyes upon her, he felt his pulse race and his heart beat more strongly in his chest. She had indeed grown beautiful, easily as attractive as any girl he knew, including Anthy or Utena. Still, there was something else about her; something that went beyond mere appearance. It was almost an instinctive reaction. As he stepped over the unconscious kangaroo, he began to wonder if perhaps his youthful relationship with Kodachi had meant more to him that he originally believ…

Unconscious kangaroo?

He looked back to take in the scene again. Certainly strange things happened at Ohtori, like Anthy's explosive curry, the near lynching of the Morobishi triplets at the hands of the female student population, that little problem with the Arbyfish, and the whole sordid 'Case of the Haunted Jacuzzi,' but having battered foreign animals lying strewn about the ground was something that just cried out "You'd better take another look at this."

Upon looking more closely at the prone animal, Miki realized someone was buried underneath it. He bent down, and with a great exertion lifted the kangaroo, releasing whomever was trapped under it.

"Kodachi!" he cried out as recognized the figure.

Kodachi was at last able to sit up, and she tried to regain her bearings. Fighting the kangaroo had been difficult, as well as downright bizarre. Not only was the peculiar nature of the battle enough to throw her off, but there was the unorthodox fighting style of the animal, as well as the fact it had a vicious right hook. Even Akane didn't have one as powerful as that.

Miki heaved the unconscious animal to the side and bent down to examine Kodachi. The words spilled from his mouth. "Are you all right? Are you hurt? What happened?

"I'm fine," Kodachi assured him.

Miki carefully looked her over. Her skirt was torn in several places, her hair was a mess, and it appeared that not only were her knuckles skinned, but she was beginning to get a black eye. "You're hurt. Let me take you to the infirmary."

Over her demure protests, he gently scooped her up, cradled her in his arms, and headed to the infirmary. Kodachi found herself surprised at how gentle his grip was, and how excited she became as he carried her, almost as though they were a married couple and he was bearing her over the threshold. It felt right, in some peculiar way. And though a part of her mind felt guilty about enjoying herself in a man's grasp other than Ranma's, since it was Miki, it would be all right. At least that was what she told herself as she nestled slightly in his hold.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

From the balcony of the Tower of Roses, Touga continued holding his opera glasses to his eyes as he surveyed his domain. Things appeared to be happening all over campus at once. There was a runaway boxing kangaroo attacking some student. People were flooding out of Utsutsu Hall where the sound of steel was ringing loud enough to be heard even from Touga's vantage point. And one of the Moroboshis was being beaten by members of the women's soccer team. Still, his eyes observed all that was going on as he continued to look for something that cried out for his personal attention.

At last he found it. In one of the rose gardens, the 'Iron Dyke' (as Haruka Ten'ou was affectionately known by all who were not either one of her fellow security cadets or one of her conquests) was engaged in a fight with someone Touga was not familiar with. It was quite odd –not that Haruka was in a fight, that was a commonplace occurrence— but that her opponent was holding her own and was not a member of the Student Council.

Touga continued to watch. Haruka's opponent was unquestionably a girl, and appeared to be dressed in the security cadet uniform of a different school, one he did not recognize immediately. Perhaps it was a fight between rivals from different schools. No doubt, given Haruka's personality, she had made many enemies and this might very well have been one that had come to challenge the tall blonde. Either the new girl was incredibly courageous, or stupid, challenging Haruka in her own backyard. In either case, the matter might bear further investigation. He continued observing the fight until he managed to get a good look at the new girl's face.

"Oh, baby. You've certainly caught my interest." One glance was all it took for Touga Kiryu to want to get to know the new girl better. It was not so much that she was beautiful, Touga knew many women far more attractive than the new girl, though her features were quite pleasing to the eye. It was the look in her eyes as she fought Haruka. There was a fire in there that called out to Touga in a way few women could.

His money, looks, influence, and personality made literally dozens of women fall under the sway of his charms. After the first hundred or so, he grew bored with them; it was the same thing over and over again and held only the minimum of entertainment anymore. However, in the last year or so he had discovered a new breed of woman, the only ones who could ignite his desires anymore. It was the handful he knew whose spirits of independence could come close to matching his own. Juri Arisugawa had been the first, though he had not come close to catching her interest, and for the life of him he could not figure out why. Utena Tenjou was the second girl that attracted him even more, but she seemed immune to his charms as well. As vexing as both girls were, still they were able to hold his interest and actually excite him, an effect very few women had on him anymore. Actually, the sex he had with Kozue was better than what he had experienced with most other women; it was just her personality that he found dull and boring.

It was Touga's sincere hope that once he wooed either Utena or Juri, or perhaps both, the spell they wove over him would not fade away. The effect they had on him, even in resisting his charms, was most pleasing. Of course, now there was another woman whose spirit might catch his interest as well. It was a matter worth investigating, so he made his way downstairs and towards the garden where the battle was taking place.

He was only halfway there when he found himself stopped by Saionji, who was moaning and cradling his right hand with his left. Curiosity got the better of Touga as he asked, "What happened to you?"

"Some bitch broke my hand," Saionji whined.

Touga filled in the blanks. "I always told you, you were too free with your slaps. It was only a matter of time before someone like Utena or Juri made you pay for it. Now let me see your hand."

Saionji held out his broken hand and allowed Touga to grasp it. Touga's hold was gentle as he looked at the hand, making sure not to pull or twist it too suddenly. "Hmm. Tell me if this hurts."

He brought his fist down hard on top of Saionji's hand. A scream echoed from one end of the campus to the other.

"Yes. It is broken. I recommend you go to the infirmary to have it checked out." Touga released Saionji's hand, noting that the youth now chose to slump to the floor rather than take his advice. Still, Touga was used to Saionji ignoring him like that, and he had more important things to do than help the injured youth to the infirmary. After all, there was an attractive woman he had to meet.

It was five minutes later that Saionji was only regaining his feet, when the rest of his kendo team found him in the halls. Upon seeing Saionji's condition, the remarks began to fly.

"Whoa! What happened to him?"

"He sure looks pathetic."

"It looks to me like he got his ass kicked by Juri."

"Nah. It looks more like Utena's work to me."

"I think Wakaba pistol whipped him again."

"ENOUGH!" Saionji roared. The indignity of it all. How dare they mock him because a few women got lucky and attacked him when he had an off day. "A coward struck me from behind as I was simply going to class. She ambushed me from the shadows and was upon me before I knew what was happening. I injured her grievously, and forced her to run away. However, due to my own injuries, I have decided to seek out medical assistance while I dispatch you to finish her off. The ter…hey! Where are you all going?" Saionji called out to the backs of the group as they walked off.

One of the members turned. "Look, sempai. Just because some little girl kicked your butt is no reason for us to do your dirty work. We're your kendo team, not your lackeys."

Saionji's face turned purple, and it took all of his force of will to not scream obscenities at the low-born simpletons. "I see. Then I suppose what she said about us is true, that our kendo team is nothing more than a bunch of pushovers that don't deserve to wear a hakama."

That made them stop. "She really said that?"

"I believe her words were, 'If the kendo team captain is this much of a pushover, there's no reason for me to bother fighting the rest of his team," Saionji said quite convincingly.

The fifteen members of the team looked at each other. At last they seemed to come to a decision. "It does look bad that Saionji had the snot beaten out of him by some little girl."

"That isn't Juri or Utena," someone else added.

"Right," another confirmed. "Maybe we'd better let her know that all of us aren't morons like Saionji."

"Or wimps like Saionji."

"Or perverts like Saionji."

"And that we don't go around slapping women, like they were whores or something, like Saionji."

"ENOUGH!" Saionji roared again. "Just go out there and avenge my…I mean the team's pride!"

And with that the fifteen men set off, not caring enough to give their leader a backward glance.

xxxxxxxx

"There are two girls fighting in the halls!"

Professors Chono and Sasaki heard the ring of steel on steel as people ran to watch the battle between the swordswomen. A look of concern was exchanged between the two men. "We'd better put a stop to this," Chono said as he took a step down the hall as other students continued to speak.

"Wow! Juri sure is unloading on that guy."

"It's Ryuunosuke Fujinami. Are you surprised?"

"That she hasn't killed him yet? Yes."

The professors stopped where they were. Chono looked to Sasaki. "Juri Arisugawa?"

"Most likely," Sasaki confirmed.

"I don't feel like displeasing that particular noble's daughter. I heard the last professor that angered her ended up being relocated to Alaska and was teaching the natives north of the Arctic Circle about the Empire," Chono said with a shudder.

"Let's just hope she doesn't kill the boy, eh?" Sasaki agreed as the two decided to call it a day and see if they could make it to a bar and begin drinking a little earlier than usual.

Ukyou Kuonji found herself hard pressed to defend against the insane redhead with a sword. It was not so much that Ukyou was unused to the weapon she had –her grandfather had trained her extensively with swords in the past— it was that the girl was unbelievably good, quick, and powerful. The ninja had yet to take the initiative since the fight started.

A tuck and roll got Ukyou out of the way of another flurry of strikes. Juri's attacks were actually seeming to become stronger as time went on, and Ukyou felt herself beginning to tire ever so slightly.

She tried a high overhand strike, hoping Juri would meet it high and leave herself open to a blow to the chin. Instead, Juri caught the backside of the descending blade and knocked Ukyou off-balance, connecting with a kick to the ninja's stomach as she went past.

Ukyou ducked the next swing at her head. Sparks flew as Juri's sword ricocheted off the brick wall behind Ukyou. The ninja's attempt at a strike to the taller girl's sword arm failed as Juri side-stepped the blow and hit Ukyou in the back of the head with a hard backfist.

That was enough for the ninja. She did a backflip through the air, narrowly missing Juri's blade. As she landed on her feet, about ten feet away, she went into her shirt and threw a half dozen throwing spatulas at the red-haired girl. Ukyou was dismayed to see Juri easily deflect each one of them.

"I see you've changed your fighting style," Juri shouted. "It won't do you any good. I'll still beat you, Ryuunosuke!"

"I'm not Ryuunosuke!" There was no further elaboration on Ukyou's part as she was steadily driven back by Juri's blows. Ukyou began to wonder if she would be able to win this fight even if she had been armed with her spatula. She pushed such defeatist thoughts from her mind. She was a Kuonji ninja, the best of her generation. She would win.

With renewed confidence, she tried going on the attack again.

xxxxxxxxx

Akane Tendou continued walking through the halls of Ohtori, becoming increasingly angry with the fact that she still hadn't managed to turn up Utena Tenjou. Maybe the girl had somehow heard Akane was coming and had decided to leave before the fight could take place, the coward.

Her search continued until it came to an abrupt halt as she found herself confronted by a group of young men, each dressed in a hakama and bearing a bokken.

"And you are?" Akane asked

"The Ohtori Academy kendo team."

Just what Akane needed, more bokken wielding twits like Kunou. "What do you want?"

One of them said, "To avenge ourselves on you defeating our leader."

"Wait a minute," Akane said. "You mean the jerk with the greenish hair?"

"Yes," the speaker admitted. "Actually, we congratulate you on beating him up. He is an insufferable prick. However, he is still our leader, and for the insults you leveled against us, we must discipline you."

Akane sighed. More annoyances on her way to deal with Utena Tenjou. At least this would give her a chance to get warmed up. She brought her fists up. "All right. I'm always ready for a fight. Who's first?"

The speaker spoke again. "What do you mean 'first'?"

Akane found fifteen bokkens pointed in her direction. It was turning into a really miserable day.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kodachi kept finding herself involuntarily meeting Miki's eyes. They sort of reminded her of Ranma's, in a way, although he and Miki were worlds apart in personalities. Miki was much more soft spoken and openly caring. He also carried himself with much more confidence around Kodachi than Ranma normally did. And he acted every inch the lord he was taught to be. Though unlike her brother, Kodachi found it appropriate on Miki.

Kodachi took another sip of her tea. After Miki had carried her to the infirmary, she had received some bandages from the doctor and a clear bill of health. Once Miki was certain she was all right, the two of them went upstairs to the school cafeteria for tea. It was a far cry from the basic one that was at the Imperial Academy, and rivaled the beauty of the one at Blackhall. It was in the open air, and the designed columns made her think once again of Roman architecture. The tables were luxuriously designed as well, being of an exotic, carved wood from the mainland of China. It was a befitting place for both herself and Miki to relax and drink tea.

The small talk exchanged between the two continued, and Kodachi found herself surprisingly attracted to the friend of her youth. She wondered if it had something to do with the cologne he wore, which was similar to the one Ranma seemed to use so often. She was glad she already had her heart set on Ranma. A few months earlier and she might have been tempted to ask Miki out. He was so sweet and caring, acting every inch the gentleman, unlike that letch, Mikado Senzanzin. Yes, it was a very good thing she had already come across Ranma in this world.

The conversation continued a little while longer before Miki at last asked the question Kodachi had wanted to avoid. "What brings you to Ohtori Academy?"

Kodachi supposed she should lie to him, but somehow couldn't bear to. "I'm looking for Utena Tenjou."

That caught Miki's interest. "Why, if I may ask?"

Again Kodachi's feelings won out over her better judgment. Taking a deep breath, she began, "There is this…young man I am interested in. He is a very impressive individual whom I respect deeply and have come to care for very much in the time that I have known him. We are destined for one another." A brief fantasy began to overwhelm Kodachi, but she managed to shake herself out of it. Actually, she shook herself out of it much more quickly than she usually did, and wondered if perhaps being so close to Miki might have had something to do with it.

"Go on," Miki insisted.

She found her heart pouring out to him, pleased that she now had someone with which she could share her feelings. "I have discovered that a disgusting, unworthy girl by the name of Utena Tenjou is in pursuit of him. She has only recently met him, and has not known this man the way I have, nor for as long. She is only a trollop that cannot possibly satisfy or care for him in the way that he needs to be cared for. She would only bring pain to him, and I would save him from that by telling her why the two of them should not be together. I would protect him from her, no matter the cost." Kodachi paused for a moment as she felt herself overcome by emotion. She would save Ranma from Utena. She would.

Miki too felt himself overcome by emotion. At first, the whole matter went right over his head, but as Kodachi continued with her speech, and spoke with such heartfelt conviction to him, it suddenly made sense. A young man that Kodachi thought Utena was interested in. Someone Kodachi had known longer than Utena had. Someone that Kodachi cared for, and thought was worthy of her attentions and whom she felt very protective towards. Someone she felt so strongly about, that she had come to Ohtori to try to dissuade Utena from pursuing him. It all made sense.

Kodachi was in love with Miki.

It was all such a surprise to him. He figured she must have been keeping tabs on him and watching him from afar, no doubt afraid that he would not return her affections should she make the source of them known. When she saw he and Utena together, she must have misinterpreted the nature of their relationship, although Miki could not deny that he was very attracted to Utena, and that he had made tentative passes at her before. Either Utena was not aware of them or was not interested, and Miki did not want to press the issue. He was not Touga. Actually, he was quite shy when it came to women, at least the ones that interested him. And of late, the only ones that had truly interested him were Utena and Anthy, and his feelings for Utena were much stronger.

But now there was Kodachi to consider. He could not deny the immediate interest he felt upon meeting the old friend from his childhood. It was as he had said before: she had grown into every inch a lady he could admire. And there was that tingly feeling that had made its presence known when he had picked her up and carried her to the infirmary. In truth, when he was more than halfway there, a brief fantasy had entered into his mind of taking Kodachi to his room instead and throwing her onto the bed there, so they could engage in matters other than checking her health. It was a strange sensation, and he had immediately felt ashamed by the nature of the fantasy with his childhood friend, but now, now it appeared that Kodachi had similar feelings about him. He wasn't sure what to do about it.

No, that wasn't exactly true. She needed to be reassured that her feelings mattered to him. Kodachi would be at her most vulnerable now, having confessed her attraction to him in a surreptitious manner that was undoubtedly made to throw him off. It was a safe way of letting him know her feelings without taking the risk of him rejecting her out of hand, not that he would do such a thing to the sweet and gentle girl.

His hand found its way into hers. Kodachi gave a gasp at Miki's advance. It was the sort of thing she would ordinarily have slapped a man for, but she couldn't seem to summon any anger towards Miki, even if he was being quite forward. The truth was, his touch was exciting her in the same way Ranma's did, not that Ranma had ever touched her all that much. Her mind told her to take her hand out of his, yet again she could not seem to do it. It felt so nice having her hand held like that.

"You don't need to warn off Utena. She really isn't a bad person, and perhaps you've misjudged what she means to him," Miki told her as he brought his other hand up and began to run it along the hand he held.

Doubt began to fill Kodachi. "I'm not sure. You could be right, but I suspect she has feelings for him. And that worries me because he might return her affections instead of mine. I realize that sounds petty of me, but he isn't experienced in the ways of love and could easily be swayed by an insincere woman."

Miki could not help but feel Kodachi was right. In spite of having many admirers, he had very little practical experience with members of the opposite sex. Yet, as much as Kodachi excited him, he felt very much at ease with her. Without realizing it, he drew his face closer to hers. "For you, I'm certain he would find the ability to firm his resolve."

"Really?" Kodachi said as she drew closer to him as well.

"Yes." Their faces were no more than a few centimeters apart when Miki's elbow accidentally knocked his silverware on the floor. The noise seemed to break the spell that had formed between the two, and each drew back in guilt for what they had almost done.

"I'll get it," Miki said as he bent below the table to pick up the silverware. He could scarcely believe what he had almost done to someone he had not seen in a decade. It was wrong to try to move that fast and seduce Kodachi, especially when she was at her most vulnerable.

Kodachi also felt shame for what she had almost done. She loved Ranma, not Miki. Even if Ranma had slept with Utena, it did not give Kodachi the right to kiss other boys. Or did it? Was it really fair that Ranma could do whatever he wanted, engaging in any old sort of fling, and Kodachi would have to sit on the sidelines, remaining chaste? She suddenly found her thoughts in a turmoil. What did she really feel for Miki?

xxxxxxxxxxx

A figure stood at the edge of the doorway leading to the cafeteria, watching Miki and Kodachi holding hands. How dare Miki try to make out with some girl when he was supposed to get together with her. Well, she had something that would put a stop to that. She pulled out the smoke bomb she had picked up on the way to the cafeteria and lit the fuse. Drawing back her arm, she wound up and threw the small projectile, confident it would hit the mark.

It was almost to the target when Miki ducked under the table. The smoke bomb bounced once on the table, catching Kodachi's attention. She had all of one second to look at the round, blue orb before it went—

*POOF*

—and Kodachi found herself the sole recipient of the black cloud.

Miki finished picking up the silverware just as the cloud began to disperse. As the vapors cleared, he saw that Kodachi's upper torso was entirely black, and only the whites of her eyes broke the image.

"Oh my goodness! What happened?" Miki asked.

Kodachi slowly rose to her feet. "I have been humiliated, and it was by that person over there!"

The figure realized it had remained behind too long, cursing its terrible luck. Kodachi had spotted her and it would be best to make a hasty retreat. She spun on her heel and began to run down the hall.

She hadn't made it far when a broom hit her in the back of the legs, knocking her to the ground. She tried to regain her feet, but it was too late. Both Miki and Kodachi had caught up to her.

"Kozue!" Miki shouted in surprise. "Why did you do that to Kodachi?"

Kozue Karou, Miki's twin sister, scowled at him. "I wasn't trying to do that to her, not that she didn't deserve it. I was trying to do it to you."

"Why?" he asked

"Because you stood me up for our meeting so that you could romance her."

Miki slapped his forehead in frustration. "I'm sorry. When I saw Kodachi, I got excited and forgot about our meeting." He was about to apologize again when another thought occurred to him. "Why did you attack me though? We weren't meeting for anything important."

"It wasn't because you stood me up. It was because you stood me up for her!" Kozue leveled in accusing finger at Kodachi. "I remember you, Kodachi Kunou! You were a mean and evil little girl. Growing up, you used to terrorize me all the time. You'd throw mud at me and make me dirty. And you'd drop snakes down my dresses. And you'd tie my hair into knots and put bubble gum in it so I couldn't get them out. And you used to do all sorts of other things that made my life growing up hell. I hate you!"

Miki's hand found its way to the back of his head as a large sweatdrop formed. "Ah, Kozue."

"Yes?"

"Kodachi didn't do those things to you. You did them to her."

"I did?" Kozue was momentarily confused. That wasn't right, was it? She stopped and thought very carefully about it. "Oops! I guess you're right. I did do those things and must have misremembered it."

"I didn't misremember it," Kodachi said as she balled both fists and had an unmistakable blue aura which both Karou's could plainly see. "In fact, I never did properly repay you for making my life a hell like that!"

Kodachi took a step forward. Kozue's survival instincts took over as she slowly tried to back away. Just as she turned to get a good run, Kodachi snagged her by the back of her hair.

Miki couldn't watch. He covered his eyes and just listened to the dull thud of flesh impacting on flesh. When the sounds stopped, he dared to peek at the scene.

"Yuck!" Miki said as he examined the twitching pile of flesh that still bore a resemblance to his sister. "Well, I have to say that she did have that coming." Miki admitted to the much more satisfied-looking Kodachi. At least Kodachi had seemed to enjoy herself. It was nice that something good had come of the whole situation.

xxxxxxxxxxx

The fist almost connected with Nabiki's head as she ducked under another one of Haruka's blows and struck with an uppercut of her own. Nabiki had no idea of how long the fight had gone on, but it was staring to wear even her nearly limitless energy down. Looking Haruka over, she judged that the Ohtori security cadet was in even worse shape. Nabiki had hit her with twice as many blows as she had received, and even though Haruka was stronger, and her ability to absorb punishment might have been a bit better than Nabiki's, it wasn't going to be enough. All it was going to take was a matter of time before Nabiki won.

A satisfied grin was plastered across Michiru's face as she watched the fight progress. It did appear that poor Haruka was losing the fight, but she had no one to blame but herself for not being good enough to win. And it would give Michiru a lot more free time to hit on whomever she wanted without the prospective prey constantly looking over their shoulder in fear that an Amazonian security cadet was barreling down upon them. As nice as Haruka was, sometimes her possessiveness was a real turn off.

"I see your handiwork in all of this, Michiru."

Michiru turned in surprise at the voice of the man that was suddenly appeared next to her. She might not have been a martial artist, but her powers of perception were excellent. It was unusual that someone as big as Touga Kiryu could have sneaked up on her.

"President Touga," she said dreamily as she unleashed her most powerful longing stare and latched onto his arm. "Oh my. Being so close to you makes me feel weak. Small wonder that no woman can say 'no' to you. Say the word and I'll go straight just for you, my lord." She ran a hand over an area of his body that she was certain would get her a response.

It did, in a way. Touga detached himself from her arm and cradled her chin, tilting it upward so she was looking directly into his eyes. He gave her the softest look he could muster. "I now understand why Saionji finds it so easy to slap women around. Just be thankful I'm a better man than he'll ever be."

"But I like being slapped. Especially by strong people. Why do you think I hang around Haruka so much?" Michiru said coyly. "Don't you find me the least bit tempting?"

"Slut," Touga said as he released her chin and ignored her from that point onward. He missed the evil stare she shot at him for turning her down so contemptuously. She'd get back at him. Not today, but someday. Definitely someday.

Touga waited for a moment when the two fighters parted and tried to catch their breath. It was obvious the new girl was going to win, but it would appear more dramatic if he was there to save the day now. And it was more likely Haruka would actually listen and back off if she was losing.

"Haruka," Touga said in a warning voice that carried the full tone of authority that he was so used to wielding.

Haruka seemed to notice him for the first time. She gasped out, "Fuck off, Prez! This isn't any of your concern."

"Oh? When a new girl visits our campus and is attacked by a member of my school's security directorate, it isn't any of the Student Council's concern?" Touga asked, maintaining his authoritative posture.

"This is matter between different branches of the Junior Security Directorate. One of the few things you have no influence over," Haruka spat out. "Now run along and play with your sticks with the other members of your little council."

Haruka was becoming increasingly insufferable of late, Touga thought. What she said was true, to a degree. The Junior Security Directorate was very independent of the normal school functions, and even the Student Council could only affect it slightly without there being repercussions from the true Security Directorate itself. One thing the 'spooks' were was territorial. Technically, Dean Fuji had the final say on all matters concerning the school, and how the Junior Directorate functioned within it, but the reality was he would respond to pressure brought upon him if it appeared he was singling out the Directorate for some reason.

That the Iron Dyke was the second most powerful member of the Ohtori Security Directorate, right after that charismatic bastard, Mikage, was another problem. There had been many instances of friction between the Council and the Directorate of late, and it had been getting increasingly worse, not better. The Directorate's desire to snub the Council was becoming ever more irritating, and Touga wondered if he was going to have to take steps to ensure that things at the school continued to run smoothly once again.

"Leave her alone, Haruka," Touga ordered.

The command officially put Haruka on the defensive. She was not winning her battle with the Impy bitch, and now Touga was butting his nose in where it did not belong. It was probably for the sake of the new girl, knowing his craving for women. About the only woman Touga hadn't try to hit on Haruka herself. Even he wasn't stupid enough to try that.

As for what to do now, it had become clear to Haruka that the fight had become one she was not going to win, and her options were limited. The idea that she would have to back down so openly to Touga was almost enough to make her act recklessly and charge him in an effort to get back some of the respect that she would lose if she was to turn tail and run. Especially with Michiru looking on.

Then the odds switched in her favor as five other security cadets rushed to the impromptu battleground. That brought a smile to Haruka's face. Even Touga, as good as he was, couldn't take on five well-trained opponents at the same time. The smirk she gave in Touga's direction improved her outlook considerably, even if he refused to act put off by the appearance of her reinforcements. "It looks like the shoe's on the other foot. Leave now. The Impy bitch is mine."

Nabiki finished watching the little power struggle going on and spoke to Touga. "I appreciate the offer, but I take care of my own fights. You'd better back off. I can handle them."

Much to her surprise, rather than retreat, Touga gave a little chuckle and moved next to her. "It wouldn't be very gentlemanly for me to leave you to take on all of these brutes by yourself. Please forgive me if I seem rude and refuse your recommendation." He kept one hand on his hip, giving every indication he was still relaxed, but Nabiki could sense the tension in him build up as he prepared for the upcoming battle.

Haruka found herself at something of a loss. She had genuinely thought Touga was going to back off. The man was behaving like an idiot, again probably to impress the girl. There was no way he would stand a chance. However, that presented a problem for Haruka. Regardless of how much she hated the Council in general, and Touga and Juri in particular, beating up the president was going to cause all sorts of problems for her and the Directorate. She was uncertain if she was really prepared to take the next step in escalating the little war that was going on among the students of Ohtori.

And then the matter was taken out of her hands.

"What's going on here?"

Haruka turned to the sound of the voice she knew all too well. Of course she would be here. Wherever Little Touga Kiryu went, the lamb, Nanami, was sure to follow. Of course this lamb had teeth, and she had not come alone. Three other girls Haruka recognized as Nanami's favored trio of subordinates were right behind her. All of them wore the same expression of concern and suspicion that their leader had.

That changed everything. Haruka had seen Nanami in action before, and knew she was a little hellcat when it came to a fight. If she felt her brother was threatened, that would make her all the more vicious. Haruka could take her easily enough in a one-on-one, but none of the other members of her reinforcements were that good. Nanami's three friends excelled at hand-to-hand as well and were at least as good as three of the other Directorate cadets present. The numbers might have been even, but the reality was the advantage was now Touga's once again.

As loathe as Haruka was to back off, she had no choice. She maintained her dignity, not rushing away, but leaving the battlefield slowly, clearly showing no signs of fear. "I won't forget this, Touga Kiryu. Nor you, Nabiki Tendou." She made certain those two could see her face and knew it was no idle threat. Turning away from them, Haruka was dismayed to see that Michiru had already left. She was going to have to talk to her girlfriend again about staying away from worthless sluts like Nabiki Tendou. Michiru was Haruka's property, and it was obvious she was going to have to be reminded of that little fact.

Nabiki watched as Haruka and the others departed. How nice. She had unexpectedly made some new friends today, and given Haruka Ten'ou's attitude, Nabiki would not have been surprised in the least if the two crossed paths once again. This little visit to Ohtori was proving itself to be just too much fun.

A handkerchief was held before Nabiki. Her eyes followed the hand it was attached to. She had heard Haruka call the man Touga, but she did not recognize him. She was about to ask him what the handkerchief was for when she felt something wet at the side of her mouth. She felt what it was with her finger, and as she withdrew it, saw that there was now a small bit of blood trickling from a cut next to her lip. One of Haruka's punches must have done more damage than she had realized.

Accepting the offered handkerchief, Nabiki reached out for it, her hand lightly brushing Touga's. As the two hands made flesh-to-flesh contact with one another, Nabiki was surprised to feel the same sensation she had when she came into contact with Ranma. Looking at Touga, she saw that he too looked surprised, and wondered if the same thing had happened to him, as unlikely as it seemed. He was very handsome, and had a presence that commanded attention. He was very tall as well, tall enough that Nabiki had to crane her neck slightly upward to look him in the face, given how close they were together. So very much unlike Ranma, yet he somehow produced a similar effect upon her.

The heat seemed to rise to Nabiki's face, and she chided herself for the loss of control. She was not some simpering school girl that swooned at a pretty face. She did not even swoon for Ranma, at least most of the time. Certainly she wasn't going to go soft just because she met some good-looking guy that carried himself like a noble. Kunou did that, and she never reacted this way to him. Of course, comparing Touga to Kunou was sort of like comparing herself to Ukyou: Nabiki was better in every way. It was clear as night and day who the more impressive noble was. There were those that could act the part of noble and then there were those who were nobles. Still, she never cared much for the stuffed shirts that made up the members of the nobility before, and she had no intention of starting now.

Then Touga drew closer, ruining her concentration again. The man was proving himself irritating, even if it was a pleasant form of irritation. She said, "Thank you for your assistance, Lord…?"

"My name is Touga Kiryu, but please, don't call me lord. That word feels inappropriate to describe me if it passes from your lips. Please call me Touga, Miss…?"

"Nabiki Tendou." Nabiki thought to herself that Touga was definitely close enough to be violating her personal space, yet again she could not seem to bring herself to back away. She was not basking in his presence, it was more like she did not mind his closeness. At least that was what she told herself.

"Nabiki Tendou," Touga repeated, savoring the way the name rolled off his tongue. "A powerful name for a powerful woman."

Under ordinary circumstances, Nabiki would have been unmoved by the flattery, but due to the genetic alterations performed on her, her body betrayed her and she found herself affected by the praise, largely in part because of the sincerity that seemed to be behind it. She was going to maintain some degree of formality though. "Thank you for the compliment."

Nabiki had not been wrong in assuming Touga's compliment had been sincere. Almost from the instant he was in her presence, Nabiki seemed to be producing the same sensations in him that Utena and Juri did. Forcing himself to take things slowly, he made a more careful examination of Nabiki, now that he was right next to her. He noted that she filled out her uniform nicely. Her bust was neither overgenerous nor small. She was on the tall side, but not the least bit lanky, and carried herself well, though his own impressive height still allowed him to tower over her. His earlier, distant assessment of her looks had been accurate. She was attractive, though not overly beautiful as Michiru was. The characteristic that really caught his interest and made her stand out from almost all of the other women he knew was the look in her eyes. It was obvious the girl possessed intelligence, as well as spirit and courage. An exceedingly rare combination indeed.

Unless Touga was terribly mistaken, and after many years of judging women he was rarely that, he was having an effect on her too. There was a blush on her cheeks that had only increased after her fight had ended, and she was studying him with an admiring, if guarded, eye. It was a look that expressed both interest and caution. She was evaluating him as they spoke, rather than being blinded by his charm and good looks. He found that to his liking as well. His body urged him to move in on her quickly, which made it that much harder to employ the caution which would be needed in dealing with Nabiki Tendou.

As the duo studied one another, while they each tried to force their bodies and thoughts into focus, they lost track of the time. It was not until someone gave a loud "Ahem!" that they snapped out of their mutual observations.

Nanami Kiryu was not amused. At first, it was because the butch bitch, Haruka Ten'ou, had dared to threaten her brother. Luckily, Nanami and her friends had come along to save the day. But instead of thanking her and showering her with appreciation, Touga was only paying attention to the girl in the strange uniform. Paying too much attention, as far as Nanami was concerned. The glint in her brother's eyes reminded her all too much of the one he usually had when dealing with Utena Tenjou.

Realizing his lack of manners, Touga turned to his sister. "Thank you for your timely arrival, Nanami. Miss Tendou and I are both grateful for your assistance. Things might have turned out quite differently if you hadn't arrived when you did."

What anger Nanami had initially felt melted away. "Of course, big brother. Anything for you."

Touga took it upon himself to formally introduce Nabiki and Nanami to one another. Nabiki noticed how Nanami's starry-eyed demeanor switched to cold suspicion when she regarded her. A cold smile met Nanami's equally cold greeting, and Nabiki found herself wondering if Nanami thought that she was trying to come on to Touga and considered the junior security cadet unworthy of her older brother. The more she thought about it, the more it felt right and the more it irritated her. It was an all too familiar opinion that Kodachi freely expressed when Nabiki was around Ranma. The idea that some noble considered herself superior to Nabiki because of something so simple as what family she was born into annoyed her to no end.

To test her theory, Nabiki moved even closer to Touga, all the while making it appear she was unaware of her action. She was rewarded by an even colder glare from Nanami. In response to the noble's scowl, Nabiki remained right where she was.

Touga hardly felt like complaining at Nabiki's new closeness, though he also noticed that his sister had a very growing, and open, resentment. There were times when her overprotectiveness vexed him. Sometimes he wondered if she thought there was any girl worthy of his attentions. Still, she was his sister, and he found it difficult to reprimand her for caring so much about him. That still left the problem of her interfering with his attempt to get to know Nabiki better. "Nanami. It's almost time for your next class."

Nanami became suspicious at the sudden change of topic. "Would you escort me to it, big brother?"

He resisted the hopeful look she gave him. "You're not a little girl anymore. You don't need me to escort you to class. Besides, I'm going to show Miss Tendou around."

"I can help," Nanami insisted as she renewed her glare at Nabiki.

Nabiki responded to that with, "Oh, you shouldn't skip your class. An education is very important, especially in one so…young."

Nanami was about to give a short retort, filled with defamations about Nabiki's sexual habits, when Touga spoke up again.

"Well put, Miss Tendou."

Nanami looked at Touga, betrayed. "But big brother—"

"Enough, Nanami," Touga said. "Go to your class. I'll take care of matters here."

Demurely, Nanami pouted, but managed a subdued, "yes, big brother." Before she and her trio of friends left, she shot Nabiki a look that rivaled the one Haruka had given when she had departed. Nabiki could not help but think that it was continuing to turn into an interesting day, all right.

Once Nanami was out of sight, Touga's mood brightened considerably. "Nicely done," he told Nabiki.

"You weren't so bad yourself," she responded. "Is she always like that?"

"Regrettably, most of the time," Touga admitted. "Still, she is my sister, and I try to look out for her." He decided to switch the topic of the conversation in an effort to learn more about the fascinating Nabiki Tendou. "So what brings you to our quiet little academy?"

Nabiki considered continuing her lie, but she had the feeling Touga would be able to see right through it. On the bright side, she doubted he was trying to set her up to be beaten by a boyfriend of his. She opted for the truth while trying not to reveal too much. "I have to see Utena Tenjou. It's sort of personal business though."

"Really?" That caught Touga's attention. So one remarkable girl he knew had some sort of connection with another remarkable girl he had just met. Interesting indeed. "Tell me more. Perhaps I can help you."

xxxxxxxxxxx

Another swing of the sword nearly took Ukyou's head off. It was quickly becoming obvious that this was the deadliest fight she had ever been in, including all of her fights with Ryouga. In spite of Juri's declaration earlier in the battle about not trying to kill her, the attacks the red-haired girl was using involved fatal strokes and it was taking everything Ukyou had to fend them off. Not that Ukyou herself was not retaliating with deadly force of her own, it was just that Juri's number of attacks and quality of strikes were far outperforming anything Ukyou was managing. As Ukyou continued to find herself driven backwards by the force of the assault, she noticed that her opponent's anger had not abated in the slightest. Even Ryouga would have had difficulty maintaining that level of emotion for that amount of time.

Ukyou found herself driven to the dead end of a long hall with neither windows nor doors that led to the outside. Her attempts to get past Juri failed, so she took the only option remaining and entered a room on the left, hoping there was a side door or window she could duck out of. Upon entering the room, a quick glance showed it to be a kendo training hall, complete with racks of wooden bokkens, but devoid of any people. There were no doors, save the one she had come through, and the only windows were set high in a far wall and had iron bars across them. Ukyou was trapped.

Desperation took over as Ukyou decided to try one last gamble to win her duel. She feinted an attack, forcing Juri to back off for a second. Backing up herself, the ninja gained the ten feet she needed. From within the confines of one of her pockets came her last trick. Ukyou hurled the small, pellet-like smoke bomb at Juri's feet. The detonation caught Juri off-guard and she began coughing as she inhaled a lung full of smoke.

Ukyou was on her in an instant, charging through the cloud and hitting Juri squarely in the chest with her lowered shoulder. The blow sent Juri sprawling to the floor, barely keeping her grip on her sword. The impact had thrown her out of the cloud, which was what saved her as Ukyou came after her, sword swinging. Juri barely got her blade up in time to keep the ninja from connecting. The blades locked together as Ukyou bore down with all of her weight over the prone Juri, her superior leverage giving her the advantage at last.

Juri was forced to turn her blade so that she could grip her weapon with her free hand near the point, in order to keep Ukyou from impaling her. Relentlessly, she felt Ukyou increasing her pressure and slowly force the blade closer to Juri's own.

"No!" Juri's mind rebelled at the very thought of losing to the 'man' that had already taken away her dignity and heart. With all of her will, Juri refused to lose.

As all of her thoughts focused onto that one idea, it was then that the stress of the situation caused the activation word to touch the back of her mind, and Juri Arisugawa had her first taste of the subliminal control program that the scientists of the Phoenix Project dubbed 'the boost.'

A wild surge of power filled her veins and permeated her entire being. As though Ukyou were a child moving in slow motion, Juri was able to bend her arms slightly, then thrust them forward, hurling Ukyou away, the leverage advantage she once possessed becoming meaningless.

Ukyou too was stunned by the impossible turn of events as she found herself colliding with a rack of kendo sticks upon her landing. The impact knocked the wind out of her, and she had only just managed to sit up when Juri came flying across the room and struck once again.

It was Ukyou's turn to barely get her sword up in time as Juri brought her blade downward towards the ninja's head. The force of the first blow sent a shock down Ukyou's arm. Even Ryouga had never landed so powerful a strike. A second two-handed strike was blocked, and Ukyou's arm went completely numb. Juri was relentless as a third stroke shattered Ukyou's sword, breaking it in half. The fourth impact knocked the hilt from the ninja's now nerveless fingers. The rage in Juri's face promised no mercy as the fifth strike slashed towards Ukyou's middle, and she heard the ripping of the material of her shirt, though there was no pain that followed. Juri drew back one more time, and Ukyou knew it would be the final blow. She tried being brave as she forced herself to watch, knowing she needed to face her end with courage. Involuntarily, she flinched as the sword descended downward and…

…stopped half-way towards its goal. It remained there for a moment before Ukyou understood that it wasn't going to come any closer. She switched her attention from the blade to the wielder, and looked into a face from which all of the blood had drained.

"I…I…it can't be," Juri stammered out as she pointed her sword at Ukyou.

It took the ninja a moment to realize Juri wasn't so much staring at her as much as she was at her chest. Ukyou followed Juri's gaze to see that not only had her shirt been slashed through, but her chest bindings as well. Her breasts were now exposed for the world to see, and from the crowd that had gathered at the doorway that had wanted to watch the end of the fight, a good portion of the world was seeing it. Ukyou gave a yelp and tried to cover up as best as she could.

Meanwhile, Juri still stared in shock at her prone opponent. "You can't be a girl. I know you always acted feminine, but you said it was because your mother was crazy and wanted a girl so badly that she tried to make you into one. That was the truth. There's no way you could have been a girl all the time. You're a guy," she almost pleaded.

"I told you I'm not this Ryuunosuke guy. My name's Ukyou Kuonji, and I've always been a girl!"

Juri didn't hear a thing. Her mind had simply seized up at the impossibility of Ryuunosuke being a girl the entire time and the implications of what that meant. All her strength seemed to leave her as the sword fell from her hand and she walked off, as though in a trance.

Ukyou just watched as Juri departed, trying to figure out exactly what had just happened.

xxxxxxxxxx

It was an hour later that the bruised and battered form of Ukyou Kuonji found enough material to cover up her chest and finally located the dorm where Utena lived at. It turned out to be a hall that was currently being renovated. Utena and her roommate were the only ones living in the entire building. Evidently there had been some sort of incident where Utena's room had been destroyed and the only place left for her and her roommate to relocate to was the partially completed hall. That suited Ukyou just fine. That meant the likelihood of interference was next to nothing.

As Ukyou pounded on the door, she debated whether or not to simply punch Utena out as soon as she answered the door, just on general principles. After all, if it hadn't been for Utena and her lascivious ways, Ukyou would never have been near Ohtori or had to go through the hell that she suffered through today.

After knocking for three minutes, Ukyou tried to decide what to do next. She was damned if she was going to go home without a confrontation of some kind. There was no way a simple locked door was going to keep a ninja of her skills out. She began walking around the building, looking at all of the windows. When she at last spotted one with several plants hanging from it, she knew she had found the correct one.

Ukyou pulled out a grappling hook and, after catching it on the roof, climbed up the wall and headed towards the window. She looked through the glass and saw numerous personal effects strewn throughout the room, including a men's school uniform sitting on the bed. That was all the confirmation she needed.

After her last escapade with climbing through someone's window, Ukyou was careful to check for any ninja traps. Her caution paid off as she found and disabled several traps. Once those were out of the way, she settled in and waited for Utena to show her ugly face.

xxxxxxxxxxx

"Here we are," Touga said with a tinge of regret as he led Nabiki to the hall where Utena now resided in.

Nabiki noticed the disappointment in Touga's voice, and was surprised to discover she felt the same way. She had spent the better part of the afternoon with him and not a moment of it felt like it had been wasted. Touga had proved a dynamic conversationalist and had a quick mind with an even sharper wit. The only real drawback she had noticed was that he tended to be an overly smooth talker and was a bit too heavy on the flattery. Aside from that, he was quite charming, and she still felt a little thrill run through her the longer she stayed in his presence.

As time went on, she became convinced that Touga was attracted to her, and she was forced to admit that the feeling was mutual. It wasn't love, but she thought to herself it was a lucky thing for Ranma that Nabiki was a one guy at a time kind of girl. Of course, that also meant that Ranma was going to be a one girl kind of guy, even if he didn't know it yet. If Nabiki was going to be restricted to a single relationship, then the same rule applied to Ranma.

"It's a shame the day must end now," Touga said, interrupting Nabiki's thoughts.

"The day's not over yet," Nabiki pointed out.

"It feels as though it is, now that we are parting company."

A very smooth talker, Nabiki noted. However, she had to admit that he had a point. It did feel as though something were ending, and Nabiki wasn't as looking forward to beating up Utena as she had been earlier in the day. Like Touga, she didn't want to leave either, but she had a mission to perform and he was a distraction she could no longer afford.

Nabiki knocked on the door. "Who knows? It's a small world. Maybe we'll run into each other again."

Touga smiled. "Then let it be so long rather than goodbye, so that we assure ourselves that we will meet again." He grasped Nabiki's left hand and slowly drew it up as he lowered his head at the same time. He gave her more than enough time to realize what his intentions were and remove her hand from his grasp. There wasn't the least bit of resistance. He brought the back of her hand to his lips, and kissed it. That wonderful sensation he felt in Nabiki's presence grew stronger as his lips met her hand. As she looked up, he saw that her cheeks had once again flushed red, as they had done several times during the course of the afternoon. There was no other reaction on her part, though. A woman of remarkable control.

Touga was about to leave when he noticed that no one had answered the door. He mentioned this to Nabiki.

"I'll just wait," she assured him, no wanting to stay in his presence much longer, given the state of turmoil her mind was in from the kiss. A little distance was what she needed right now.

Touga shrugged, then pulled out a key. "As president of the Student Council, I have access to any of the buildings. Not that I would let just anyone into a closed dorm, but I have a feeling you're trustworthy."

He unlocked the door for her and let her inside. It was only after the door closed behind her, with Touga on the outside, that she felt herself calm down. She tried putting Touga Kiryu out of her mind by focusing on what Utena had done with Ranma. It worked, to a degree, as some of the excited feelings she had felt towards Touga began to drift away from her. It was a good thing Ranma hadn't been around to see her behaving like that. On the other hand, it might also serve to make him jealous and not take her for granted the way he usually did. A jealous Ranma. Now that was a thought to consider, especially if it meant seeing Touga Kiryu again. The wheels of Nabiki's mind turned as she tried to locate Utena's room.

xxxxxxxxxxx

Ordinarily, Akane Tendou would have felt quite satisfied with herself, having defeated fifteen kendoists in the same day. She knew that somewhere, high up above, her mother was looking down and felt proud that her daughter had followed so closely in her footsteps. On the downside, Akane Tendou was breathing hard, her body ached with injuries and fatigue, and her uniform was ripped in the kami only knew how many places. In a handful of words, she looked like shit. She felt like shit. She would have been dead meat if the dishonorable groups of thugs had actually been able to charge her all at once. As it was, they were still able to attack her in two-by-two waves one after another. It had taken all of her skills, and still she had suffered dozens of hits, but in the end it was she who had been standing victorious over that group of idiots.

After being bludgeoned so badly for no real reason, Akane was in a foul mood. Realizing that her injuries were going to slow her down, it was going to make her victory over the tramp, Utena, all the more difficult. That the amount of pain she was in really bothered her, put her in the foulest mood of all. So when she had finally broken down and asked someone where Utena Tenjou lived, and had found the place, Akane was really fuming. She didn't even bother with knocking on the door; with one mighty foot she kicked the door down.

"Knock, knock! Guess who's here!" Akane shouted as she went to confront Utena Tenjou.

xxxxxxxxxx

Kodachi Kunou decided there was only one nice thing about her ash covered upper torso: it hid the black eye she was now sporting from the damnable boxing kangaroo. Regrettably, there was nothing she could do about the rips in her dress, so she would just have to look like she had just been thrown from a train. She must have looked terrible, but there was nothing to be done about it. She wasn't about to leave after all she had gone through. Utena had to learn how things were going to work from now on (i.e.: she would never have further contact with Ranma ever again or she would be beaten into a bloody pulp.) It was simple and straightforward, something a simple (very simple) and straightforward person like Utena would understand.

Kodachi realized she could not be entirely disappointed with the way the day had gone. Meeting Miki again after all of those years was a wonderful thing. Actually, it was about the only good thing that had come about from the whole sordid Utena affair. But it made her feel as though all of the hassles and humiliations she had put up with had been worthwhile. The two had already promised to get in touch with one another again, and Kodachi meant to keep up her end of the bargain. If only for Miki's sake.

She had parted company with Miki earlier, after he had given her directions to Utena's dorm. Kodachi had managed to hide what business she had with Utena, and once Miki realized that, he didn't try to press the issue. However, Kodachi was annoyed to discover that Miki apparently had a great deal of contact with Utena, and from the way he had said the pink-haired girl's name, it sounded as though he might have had feelings for her. Kodachi hoped that was not the case. It was obvious the girl was a complete slut, hopping in the sack with Ranma after she had just met him. She might very well have the same designs on Miki, and he deserved better than that. He should be with a nice lady of the nobility who was soft, caring, intelligent, beautiful, and would take the time to listen to both his words and his gentle spirit. Someone like…Kodachi herself, only it couldn't be her since she already had her sights set on Ranma. But Miki did deserve someone like Kodachi, so she would simply take it upon herself to try to get rid of his desires for Utena and try to redirect them to a more worthy source. But not her, Kodachi reminded herself. It had to be someone else. Even though Miki had grown into a gentle, sweet, caring young man that any woman would be lucky to have.

The afternoon had made it clear he was quite a contrast to Ranma. Miki was refined, where Ranma was rough. Soft spoken where Ranma tended to be brash. More open with his emotions where Ranma tended to be subdued. It was a wonder she could find herself so taken with two such extreme opposites. Although she was really only taken with one of them, and not the other, or so she reminded herself.

Shaking that matter from her mind, Kodachi approached the dorm that Miki had given her the directions to, only to discover that the door to the place had somehow been knocked off its hinges. Kodachi looked around again, making certain that it was indeed the right place. Once again reaffirming it was, she went inside, curious as to what might be going on.

xxxxxxxxxx

Anthy Himehiya approached her dorm, intent on cleaning up the place now that her classes were finished and she had taken care of her rose garden. It was as she arrived at the remains of her entryway door that she noticed something peculiar.

"I believe someone is in my dorm." She went inside and headed directly towards the room she and Utena shared. Since Utena was at a tournament in Hokkaido and owned a key to the dorm, that left her out as the one who had broken down the door. She would have waited for Anthy to show up first in any case. That meant there were most likely some intruders in their place. It wouldn't be the first time it had happened, though usually they were less destructive when they tried to get in.

As Anthy arrived at the top of the stairs, she heard four distinct voices arguing with one another, none of them belonging to Utena. She walked to her room and saw that there were four girls already there. All of them appeared as though they had been in a fight, and a very big one at that.

Kodachi noticed Anthy first. "Who are you?" Her question gained the others' attention as they stopped arguing with one another to look the new girl over.

"I'm Anthy Himehiya." She bowed before the girls. "And you must be the intruders who broke into myself and Miss Utena's home. Miss Utena told me quite specifically what to do with intruders when she wasn't here to deal with them. Although it is unusual for it to be girls instead of boys. You didn't steal any of our underwear or try to grab some locks of hair from Miss Utena's brush, did you?"

"Ah, no," Akane said, bewildered at the whole nature of the conversation.

"Good. That makes things easier," Anthy replied.

Before any of the girls could say anything further, an invisible force encircled their bodies, completely immobilizing them. Immediately their voices began shouting in protest, but their pleas fell on deaf ears as they found themselves telekinetically lifted up off the ground and put back to back in mid air. No matter how hard they tried, none of them could move an inch.

"What are you going to do with us?" Ukyou asked.

Anthy retrieved a coil of rope from Utena's closet. "It's nothing to worry about. You'll find out soon enough."

Anthy's blissful smile did nothing to reassure any of the girls.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Juri lay on her back on the stone bench in the middle of one of the numerous rose gardens present on the Ohtori grounds. An arm was across her face, masking her eyes, though leaving her mouth uncovered so that she could speak clearly. Her other arm was limply hanging over the edge of the bench, giving her the appearance of someone trying to get some sleep. The opposite was true, though. Her thoughts were in such turmoil that she needed to give voice to them before any relaxation could be had.

"It all started two years ago, long before I joined the council. I know you're aware of the rumors that circulated, and I never saw the need to correct them since the end result would have been the same even if the truth had been known. But the whole sordid affair was worse than you can imagine.

"Ryuunoske Fujinami. Shiori Takatsuki. Juri Arisugawa. A triangle of friends, or so it seemed. Ryuunoske was the captain of the fencing team, and I was his star teammate, eventually surpassing him in ability, despite being a year younger. We got along fabulously. Shiori was my best friend, though she got along very well with Ryuunosuke too. But there came a day when I discovered I was in love, and as longtime friends were apt to do with one another, I told Shiori that I loved someone. I was deliberately vague, for I had fear of my innermost feelings becoming known, and could only speak of things in the most obscure terms. I veiled things so she wouldn't suspect who it was I cared for, until I knew my feelings might be returned. I was frightened, for if my feelings were rejected, things could never be the same. Shiori gave me a rose that day, and told me not to worry, for sometimes miracles come true.

"A lie. There are no such things as miracles.

"How little I truly knew. Shiori assumed I meant Ryuunosuke, and she became jealous. She knew that our friendship would be forever changed between the two of us because I would be taking on a lover, a lover that she too craved, or at least that was what she thought I wanted. She was only half wrong. Our friendship would indeed have been changed forever had my true feelings became known, one way or another.

"Shiori made her move the very next day. She believed Ryuunosuke cared for me, and lied to him by telling him that there was someone I loved, someone other than him. What a joke, she told 'lies' that were actually the truth, though she had no way of knowing.

"After that 'revelation', they quickly fell in love, and I only discovered that fact after the two of them transferred away from Ohtori. Everyone knew what had happened but me. I didn't find out until it became too late to do anything about it. Later, Shiori sent me a note telling me that she knew I must have hated her for her actions, and also that she still had no regrets for what she had done. And the worst part was, I couldn't seem to bring myself to hate her.

"How can someone be so right for so many wrong reasons?

"Oh the bitter irony. Shiori had misinterpreted what I meant when I told her in those veiled terms that there was someone I loved. I did care for Ryuunosuke, but not in that way. Never in that way.

"The one I was in love with was Shiori."

"Ah ha!" Touga said in satisfaction from his seat on the stone bench across from Juri. "You're a lesbian. That explains why you were so resistant to my charms."

"That and the fact that I have good taste," Juri said.

"So how do you feel now that you've confronted the one you improperly blamed for taking the love of your life away and discovered that he was actually a she?" Touga asked, now concerned.

The arm moved away from Juri's face as she sat up to look at Touga. "You think I would be angry at having been lied to all of that time, but curiously, I feel better. I mean, I never guessed that Ryuunosuke was actually a girl, but now that the truth has come to light, it changes everything. I had always blamed myself for missing my opportunity by not telling Shiori the truth and letting my feelings for her be known. Maybe she would have turned me down. Maybe not. But it was the not knowing that drove me crazy and made me so full of depression and rage. However, now I realize that Shiori must have known Ryuunosuke was a girl all along. If she hadn't, she would have said something in the letter she sent me. That means Shiori must have been that way the whole time, and that she simply preferred Ryuunosuke over me. Telling her my feelings would have changed nothing. She would have ended up choosing him…I mean her, over me. You can't have lost a chance if you never had one to begin with."

"So all of your angst was wasted, eh?" Touga asked. He was delighted to see Juri smile in return. It was a wry little thing, unburdened of the anger she once had. It made her look beautiful instead of just cute. "Now, how do you feel about the whole situation?"

Juri looked to the skies. Again a smile found its way to her lips. She couldn't remember the last time she had smiled for something as simple as a beautiful day. "I feel good for the first time in years. The triangle's forever broken. The cage I built out of my guilt is gone. I've put the past behind me. I'm free."

"And how do you feel about Shiori?"

Juri stopped looking at the skies and stared at Touga again. Slowly, she withdrew a gold locket that hung from her neck by a chain. She undid the clasp behind her neck, and held the locket in her hand. Opening it revealed a small picture of a girl within. "I realize now that she really was unworthy of any sympathy for being so damned unrepentant for what she did to me. Come on, stealing a guy you think your friend loves from right under your nose and laughing about it afterwards? She was a bitch." Drawing her arm back, Juri threw the locket as far as she could and laughed long and hard.

"Indeed," Touga agreed. Further thoughts were cut off as four people, tied together by rope, went rolling past at a blinding speed. Four incoherent cries of terror went up as the blur went down the path Juri and Touga were on and continued rolling out of sight

"It looks like someone broke into Utena's dorm again," Touga sighed.

"Did you see who it was?" Juri asked.

Touga shook his head, allowing the wind to blow back his hair. The women liked that windswept look. "They were moving too fast. More likely than not, it was the Moroboshis up to their usual tricks. I'd have them expelled if they weren't such amusing comic relief."

"Too true," Juri agreed as she laid back down and looked to the skies. Yes. Everything was much brighter now. Freedom was the most wonderful feeling in the world.

xxxxxxxxxxx

The rolling mass of humanity stopped once it reached the southern gates of Ohtori. Upon settling outside, the ropes snapped of their own accord and lay there, limply, along with the four girls who also laid there, limply. One by one, they teetered to their feet, their equilibrium still destabilized from the nature of their unusual dismissal.

"I think coming here was a big mistake," Ukyou moaned as she collided with Nabiki.

Nabiki tried to push her away, but missed and ended up falling down once again. "Definitely. I think I'll visit 'Miss Utena' another time. Like maybe in a year and without her freaky roommate around."

"You got that right," Akane sighed as things finally began settling down for her. Utena could wait another day. And maybe Ranma had lost interest in her anyway.

Kodachi kept her council to herself, and wondered if it might be a better idea to have Miki visit her at the Imperial Academy instead of on the grounds of Ohtori.

With that decided, and absolutely no energy left to squabble with one another, the girls all left Ohtori, vowing never to allow Anthy Himehiya's shadow to darken theirs again.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

How about that. A Ranma and Utena fic without neither Ranma nor Utena in it. ^_^


	6. Moves in the Night

Good Nights

A Quantum Destinies Side Story

This is a story set in Jurai-Knight's 'Quantum Destinies' universe, and you will have to be familiar with that piece of work to follow this story. The events within take place some considerable time in the future of the current 16 chapters of Quantum Destinies.

Standard Disclaimer:

The Quantum Destines universe is Jurai-Knight's. Many of the characters within are not. The handful of anime characters I use in this one are also owned by someone else.

You can find all of my fics now stored at:

.

Jurai-Knight's homepage is located at:

.net/~

Any and all C+C is appreciated. You can contact me at

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

The humid air of the small office weighed upon Captain Koji Yasuroka of the Security Directorate like a sack of hot coals thrown over his shoulder. It was a terrible heat that made sweat stream from every pore and clothing stick like a second skin to every part of the body it came in contact with. The small fan that hung from the ceiling fought valiantly but was losing its futile struggle to alleviate the heat. The best it could manage was to push the hot air around, giving more of it a chance to suck out the last drop of moisture from every living creature in the room. It was nights like this that showed just how much the building relied on the central air-conditioning that had broken down earlier in the day. Even at one A.M. long after the sun had gone down, the heat remained nearly unbearable. It was like that everywhere in Japan. It was going to be a long, hot summer.

As Koji waited patiently in a pool of his own sweat, he looked the office over again. He had been here in person less than a dozen times throughout his career, which was probably closer to a good thing rather than bad. The room itself was unremarkable in appearance. Several metal file cabinets lined the wall, along with a computer terminal at a small table towards the single window on the far side of the room, giving it a cramped feeling. Koji himself was seated in a straight-backed chair. The only concession to comfort was a hard substance attached to the back and bottom of the seat that he assumed was supposed to be padding, but had the resiliency of the metal that composed the rest of the chair. The centerpiece of the small office was the desk in front of Koji's chair. The desk itself was plain and utilitarian, a standard issue piece that added no character whatsoever to the room. The same could not be said for the current owner of the desk.

Col. Genichiro Watanabe, Koji's direct superior during the infrequent times he was in his homeland, was a heavyset man barely in his forties but looked well into his fifties: a testament to the burdens placed on him by his position in the Security Directorate. Balding, with beady eyes and a pug nose, the colonel reminded Koji of an ugly Boxer he had owned as a child, not that Koji was stupid enough to voice the comparison out loud. He had always liked the dog, at least, and it mirrored his feelings toward his commander.

The colonel was a nice enough man, but could be exceptionally harsh when the occasion demanded it. Only once had Koji suffered through one of Watanabe's trademark tirades during his second year as an officer. Even after eight years, Koji still hadn't figured out which was worse: the tongue-lashing or the demotion. Still, it had the necessary effect of forcing him to reevaluate himself and the direction his life had been taking. Finding the will to overcome his alcoholism and rededicate himself to his job was the best move that Koji had ever made. That he was standing here at this moment, bearing the material he had, was proof of that.

Devotion to his work in the Security Directorate was the reason Koji had returned from his overseas intelligence gathering mission to his homeland and was currently in the office of his immediate superior. Only extraordinary diligence at doing his job to the best of his abilities had led him to uncover the crucial bit of evidence that so many others had overlooked. Discovering it, and taking a chance that what the file hinted at was not a mere typographical error, had led him halfway around the world and caused him to risk his life on over a half dozen occasions, all to expose what was perhaps the greatest secret any Imperial agent had uncovered in the last decade.

And subsequently, after secretly contacting Col. Watanabe, Koji had returned to headquarters with the multiple files, the fruits of his life risking efforts, in hand. He had been more than happy to turn the important documents over to his superior, and allow the colonel to make any important decisions that would most likely affect the lives of hundreds, if not thousands of people in the Empire.

Patiently, Koji waited as Watanabe examined every piece of evidence in the file for the third time. The captain had been sitting in the sweltering heat for over an hour in silence, and would do so for another one, if necessary. Events were too important to allow a little discomfort from the heat to change his delighted mood.

Finishing the last of the fifty plus pages of evidence Koji had compiled, Watanabe waved the documents in his hand towards his officer. "There are some details I need to know concerning how you obtained this material to determine if it's real or not."

Koji was eager to tell the tale. He rose to his feet and approached Col. Watanabe. The colonel sat down, placing the file on the desk so he could start pulling out individual papers.

Koji pulled out the first document. "It was while I was investigating an abandoned German intelligence base in India that I stumbled upon some files that had survived destruction when the base was abandoned. Inside, there was information that had to do with the maneuvering of materials from several companies in Europe to an island in the Indonesian Territory. That alone was curious, but more important was the code-name attached to one of the people that had sent the material: Overlord. I remembered that was one of the names that Lorenz Keele had used before his reported death. I mean the latest one. Anyway, the material was dated from only two years ago, well after he was supposed to have died in his Antarctic base."

A look of incredulity was written on Watanabe's features. "That's awfully weak evidence to conduct such an expansive investigation. The Germans could have just recycled the name. I know our department has done that several times with agents over the years."

Reluctantly, Koji nodded his head. "It was, but in reading over the documents, I concluded there was something about them that just rang true. I felt compelled to investigate, so I tracked the materials that had come from Europe back to their source. It was there that I uncovered a web of deceit and hidden agendas that had to be seen to be believed. I won't deny I was very lucky in uncovering some of the evidence I did. Several of my contacts died giving me this information. I barely escaped Constantinople with my life when members of the Moroccan's Kafala death squad targeted me for assassination."

Watanabe raised an eyebrow at that. "So that was why they were there. I heard they'd been seen in that part of Turkey, but no one knew who they were after. They left over fifty dead, from what I understand."

"Like I said, I was very lucky. They were very thorough in their attempt to kill me. They were most eager to get the files I had obtained." Koji let out a deep breath as he remembered the fear of running through the backstreets of that distant, alien land, death snapping at his heels the entire way. "It was only because they mistakenly identified someone else's body as mine that I escaped. After that, I contacted you and made my way here.

"But the secret moving of the materials isn't that important. The real gem is what I found hidden in an old German intelligence file dating back to the fifties." Koji went through the papers until he came upon a specific manila folder. He pulled out a photo that showed several people disembarking from a ship whose name identified it as Norwegian in origin. Two red circles, made in decades old marker, called attention to an old man with a widow's peak and an odd cyclopean visor that completely hid his eyes. Next to him was a young girl, not even out of her teens, dressed in an old style Norwegian military outfit, her shoulder insignia indicating she was a sergeant. Her skin was as pale as an albino's, with red eyes that were slanted ever so slightly at the edges; an indication of at least some traces of an Asiatic bloodline. Her hair was short and held a distinctive shade of brown that had the oddest touch of blue tint to it. But in spite of her odd appearance, by far her most distinctive feature was her face. It was a cold thing, devoid of any hint of emotion, as though such things were an alien concept to the young woman. She was as icy in demeanor as she was in appearance.

Koji waved the sheet of paper that had been clipped to the back of the photo. It was in German, but he was fluent in the language and could read it easily. "Sir, the papers attached to this can leave no doubt as to the identity of both people. It is indeed Lorenz Keele, looking exactly the same nearly sixty years ago as he does today. And German intelligence identifies his companion as a girl named Raye!" Koji had to concentrate for a moment to keep from crumpling the paper in his excitement. Everyone knew that the only constant person that remained in Keele's presence was the mysterious girl whose origin remained a mystery despite various attempts to ascertain her identity.

Watanabe scoffed at that. "We have no idea of what his companion's name really was. Raye was most likely a code name. He's probably been using it for years, and this was the current version's mother."

"It's not. Look at the moles, sir," Koji insisted. He pointed out a trio of moles, two close together on the right cheek and another on the underside of her jaw that was just visible from the angle the picture was taken. He then pulled out another photograph, the high-quality indicating it was taken far more recently. Paperclipped to it was the information of when it was taken and what branch of Imperial Intelligence was responsible for it. Koji indicated the moles on the nearly albino girl seen in it. "They match perfectly, sir. There's no way this isn't the same girl. Considering the fact that Imperial Intelligence has reported her dead on at least three separate occasions, the second time with an actual body to substantiate it, combined with Keele's apparent lack of age in this photo, it can only mean one thing. As impossible as it seems, somehow Keele has had access to cloning technology at least ten years before the Empire supposedly pioneered the science!"

Koji found himself becoming too excited again. It was understandable. This was the first time he could actually voice his conclusions to anyone else, and it was all he could do to keep from jumping up in joy at the unbelievable wealth of information he had uncovered. "And there's more. With the movement of these trillions of yen in materials to the island, in addition to the other information I've uncovered, it points to the inescapable conclusion that Keele is alive. True, it might be this is a clone and the real one died in Antarctica, but even if that's the case, it'll be close enough to the real thing. We'll need to be prepared for anything."

Almost reluctantly, Watanabe nodded his head. "I assume you've personally verified all of this information?"

"I wouldn't have come here with it otherwise, sir."

That seemed to brighten the colonel's mood considerably. He rose to his feet and stood several centimeters above Koji. "It looks to me like the information is valid, if a bit weak in the whole cloning bit. It'll take more than one old photo to convince our superiors that Keele had somehow gotten his hands on the technology before us. But the information you have on them moving materials to this island is far more conclusive and easily verifiable, now that we know what to look for. This will be more than enough to get the big bosses moving."

The colonel slapped his hand in a friendly gesture on Koji's back. "Congratulations! You'll be able to write your own ticket with this. It's a guaranteed promotion and assignment to any area in the world that you want. I hear Hawaii's nice this time of year. A lot less humid, in any case. And I never heard of anyone in the Directorate office there complaining about traitorous pineapples. And the women…" He grinned lasciviously at that.

Koji stood at attention and saluted. "Sir! I only did this because it was my job and for the safety of the Empire. I did not do it to seek personal gain in any form."

The reaction made Watanabe chuckle. "You're such a diehard. I remember being just as strait-laced as you a few years ago. I hope for your sake you learn to calm down a little, or else you'll have a heart attack just like I did. Then you'll be forced to rethink your approach to life." The colonel regarded the documents in his hand. "Still, maybe this one time it's called for. Looks like an all-nighter for me this time around."

Koji finally stopped saluting, but remained at attention. The action made his clothing hug him even more fiercely in its embrace. "Sir, I'll be more than happy to assist you in the organization of the report."

The offer made Watanabe shake his head. "That won't be necessary. I think I ought to do at least a little work to justify my position in this office. Besides, the report is my responsibility now that this information is in my hands. Have you told anyone else about any of this?"

"Absolutely not, sir. I didn't dare reveal it to anyone for fear of leaks in the department," Koji replied crisply.

That made Watanabe smile. "That means this ball is completely in our court. I might be joining you in the promotion thing if this works out as well as it might. Now, as for you, I want you to go back home and get as much sleep as you can. You'll come by my office at 0900 hours to review the report, then I have little doubt we'll be called upon to go see the Board."

"The Board?" Koji fairly trembled at the idea. The Board consisted of the head of the Directorate and his advisors who operated almost exclusively at the Imperial Palace. Virtually no field officer ever got to see them in anything other than a huge military function. The idea of meeting the highest ranking officers in the Directorate made Koji swoon. It was a dream come true.

"Oh yes," Watanabe assured him. "When they get wind of this, they'll jump on it like a pack of starving dogs thrown a piece of raw meat. Especially given Keele's continued existence. General Hashimoto's nephew was involved in that Antarctic Operation fiasco. He wants to see Keele dead as much as anyone." Watanabe made a point of looking at a clock hanging on the wall. "It's already late, and going to get later before I'm through. You'd better get going."

Giddy with excitement at what was to come, Koji nearly forgot to salute as he headed out of the office and towards his car. His quarters were located a number of miles off base, and it would take at least half an hour to get there. It would give him time to think of how he would react to meeting the Board. If he played it right, he might very well get the promotion the Colonel had spoken of. He wouldn't ask for Hawaii, though. While the climate might be nice, it was too small for his liking. Nothing but a bunch of small islands a thousand miles from anywhere. He would request a transfer to the Western North American Prefecture. He had family that had relocated out there, just a few uncles and cousins, but they described it as a virtual paradise. And even if it wasn't, at least it wouldn't be as miserable as being stationed in that armpit of the world that was known by the name of India, like he had been for the last three and half years. If he never set foot in that miserable territory, he could die a happy man.

It was looking to be a good night for Koji Yasuroka

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Colonel Genichiro Watanabe watched from the small window of his office as Captain Yasuroka's car exited the parking lot and headed off base towards the south. Once convinced Koji was gone, Watanabe pulled out a cellular phone and dialed a twelve-digit number known to only a handful of people.

A high-pitched feminine voice on the other end of the line answered, "Good evening. This is Kisato's Floral Shop. We're the only floral shop to offer twenty-four hour delivery service. How can I be of assistance?"

"I'd like to pick up an arrangement of gardenias. Preferably red and blues, with some yellow carnations and black roses. Can this be arranged?"

"It most certainly can, sir. You have chosen a very interesting combination."

"They are intended for a very interesting person."

There was a click on the other end of the phone. That would ensure the security of the line. For the next five minutes, no one on Earth would be able to listen in on the conversation that was about to take place, or so he had been told. He knew everything at his end was secure, having already swept the room for listening devices. Not that the Security Directorate did anything but cursory evaluations on its own personnel. They spied on everyone else, not on each other, or at least, not extensively. There were precious few who had the authority to watch the watchmen. And Watanabe had never truly engaged in any suspicious behavior they would have noticed. He had made sure of that. They had been the ones who had trained him, after all.

Patiently, Watanabe waited for almost a minute before there was a voice on the other end of the line.

"Voices."

"Should be paid a great deal of attention," Watanabe repeated the countersign. There was another click, before a much deeper-voiced man said, "You have information."

A statement, not a question. "Things have been sloppy on your end, Mr. Kentaro." Not the man's real name, but the one that was used to describe him.

"Explain."

Watanabe collected all of the papers in the file Koji had given him, mindful not to miss even single a notecard. "Apparently, someone left a paper trail which one of my men has discovered. A very extensive one. You're just fortunate I was the one he confided it in." Watanabe, mindful of the remaining time, summarized the details of what Koji had learned. Once finished, Watanabe warned, "This could potentially blow everything wide open. The matter must be resolved by tonight."

"It shall be. A trio of agents are in the area. They will be reassigned to this target. Address?"

Watanabe gave it as he opened a drawer and pulled out a machine that had barely been able to fit in the compartment. "Make sure it looks like an accident. I can make up some excuse for calling him back to Japan, but it's going to be suspicious if he's murdered within twenty-four hours of his return home."

"Not a problem. Do we have to retrieve any evidence?"

The flick of a switch activated the tiny machine. Watanabe put it on his desk top, making sure one end of it was sticking over the edge. He grabbed a small metal wastepaper basket and positioned it underneath the part of the device that hung over the edge. "No. I have all of the hard evidence with me."

"Have you taken care of it?"

Watanabe shoved the file through the top of the machine. Tiny flakes of now pitch black paper fell into the wastebasket, resembling a tiny snow storm of ashes. "Oh yes. It's been taken care of."

"Excellent. Expect an additional bonus of eight million yen in the account."

Phone cradled in between his shoulder and neck, Watanabe stood up on his desk and disabled the sensor in the fire detection system. "That is extraordinarily generous of you."

"We have always rewarded those who serve us effectively."

Climbing down, Watanabe took a match and dropped it in the wastebasket. "Nonetheless, I appreciate the gesture. With any luck, you won't hear from me again."

"Nor I you."

Hearing nothing but a dial tone, Watanabe hung up, then opened the window to allow the small cloud of smoke out of the room. The heat from the tiny fire might have made things a little more uncomfortable than before, but eight million yen in the next week did more than enough to alleviate the discomfort.

Another man might have felt bad about betraying his fellow soldier and country, but not Watanabe. All the Empire had given him were three broken marriages, two parents that had swallowed the government's propaganda and died young for their country, a stressful dead-end job, a series of ulcers, a heart attack, and as a final reward, a pension no decent man could live on once he retired. The colonel figured it was time for him to give back a little, and if he could make a lot of money in the bargain, who was he to complain?

The smile on Watanabe's face grew wider in direct proportion to the way the flames grew steadily lower.

It was proving to be a good night.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Koji stared at the night sky that lay outside his window, hoping to catch the sight of some stars. It was impossible to see, with the sudden downpour that had appeared out of nowhere, but he could still make out a few of the constellations through holes in the cloud cover that hung in the sky. It wasn't like that out in the wilds of the North American Prefectures. At least, everywhere but around the cities. There were lots of wide open spaces, the exact opposite of Japan. There was more room out there than the pioneers who had claimed that land knew what to do with. That was where Koji wanted to be. Not living in some suburb where his tiny 'cubicle' (the not-so-affectionate name given by those residents who lived in the modular houses that dominated his district) was exactly the same as every other one on the block. True, it was relatively cheap, and there was little need for him to own a large home since he spent so little time in his country, but he still despised the tiny structure. It seemed too close a parallel to how small a life he had outside of the Directorate.

Sleep would not come to him, but that was no surprise. It was unlikely he would manage to get more than ten hours for the whole week, given how excited he was. It was only starting to settle in just how lucky he had been in uncovering the information on Keele. There was the realistic possibility that he could get a cushy desk job in some relatively small town when he moved. And then he could raise a family. Maybe find a nice girl from the region. Contact with the people of many other lands had taught him that foreigners were no more 'barbaric' than members of his own culture. They were just different. And ever since he was a teenager, he always had a thing for the exotic looks those women that lived in the Prefecture had. They were always depicted as wild and untamed, the exact opposite of the Imperial women he knew, though most of them were the typical coldhearts that had joined the Security Directorate. Not one warm, caring woman in the group, as near as he could tell. It would be good to get out of the field once and for all.

Koji was still in the midst of his relocation fantasy when the dull buzz of the doorbell caught his attention. Looking at the clock showed it to be nearly three A.M. Who the hell would be calling at that hour?

Carefully, Koji grabbed his holstered sidearm and tucked it into his belt behind his back. It had to be paranoia. Surely the Colonel hadn't told anyone of their findings yet, and Koji had never breathed a word of his discoveries to anyone else. There was probably a logical reason for someone to be knocking on his door in the middle of the night, but he would rather err on the side of caution as close as he was to the achievement of his dreams.

The doorbell rang a second time just as he got to the door. Hoping to surprise the nocturnal visitor, he quickly unlocked it and flung it open. Standing on his tiny front porch was one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen. She was of European descent, with deep blue eyes and long blond hair plastered down the back of a black shiny trenchcoat. Prominent cheekbones and a perfect nose accentuated her features. For a moment, the vision of beauty left Koji stunned.

"Oh, thank goodness someone was here. It's nice to know I got lucky on my first try for help," the woman said in perfect Japanese.

It was then Koji noted that she sounded somewhat… vacuous. Looking again in her eyes, he saw that her appearance matched that of her voice. Just not very much in there, if he was any judge of character. Not that any man would care about her brains when she had looks like that. His eyes traveling down to her feet, he saw that she was wearing black leather boots with high heels. Not the kind of footgear that was usually worn in this sort of weather. "Lucky?" he asked.

"My car broke down," she whined as she looked over her shoulder behind her. On the far side of the street, directly across from his house and in front of his neighbor, Mikata's house, was a shiny new black car. A Mitsubishi luxury model from this year, if he was not mistaken. A very expensive vehicle. One very hard for a foreigner to come by.

"What on Earth are you doing out at this time of night?" Koji asked, still wary about the whole unexpected situation.

The woman's eyebrows furrowed in concentration. "I was just leaving Ginny's place, well, his name isn't really Ginny. It's Gingi Koratoma, and he's a general, and a really good one too. I just call him Ginny because it's so cute, and he likes it. Anyway, I had to leave late because that bitch wife of his called to say she was coming back into town this morning, and I'm not allowed to stay at his place when she's there since she gets jealous and… oops. I wasn't supposed to say his name. He likes being discreet. Don't tell anyone I said, that, okay? I'm supposed to be a secret."

Koji nodded knowingly. Now it made sense. It was common knowledge that General Koratoma had a very beautiful mistress that could melt men's hearts with little more than a glance from her liquid blue eyes. And Koji had heard she was blonde too. Given the wealth that the General had from his rather prominent family, it was small wonder he could afford to pay for a car and a place for his mistress to stay. Hell, if Koji had that kind of money, he would have paid at least that much for a beauty like her to pleasure him.

But she was a general's property, and that meant she was totally off limits. There was no way Koji was going to jeopardize everything by hitting on a general's mistress. He'd end up being stationed at the North Pole instead of North America. Still, he couldn't refuse to help a woman in distress. "Let me see what I can do to help."

"Thank you ever so much," the woman cooed in that same vacuous voice.

Koji noted that as his mistress, he would have allowed her to speak a lot less. Listening to her mindless babble was getting annoying.

Throwing on a light jacket to shield himself from the rain, Koji went out on the porch and closed the door behind him, locking it with his keys out of habit. At least the rain seemed to have made everything cooler. Even if it wasn't pleasant yet, at the very least it could be considered not stifling. It was something to be grateful for.

The woman had started without him while he locked his door, getting an impressive lead as she headed towards her car. In spite of the trenchcoat she wore, it did little to hide her shapely form. He admired her busty profile and the way her hips swayed. He realized that once he was finished helping her, it would be nubile Europeans rather than North American girls that would be the main participant in his fantasies for the rest of this evening.

Koji was in the middle of the street when it occurred to him that something was out of place. He stopped, looking dumbstruck for a moment as he tried to figure out what it meant.

The woman had just made it to her car when she turned to see Koji standing in the middle of the street, staring in her in confusion. It was just as the dawn of realization set in for Koji that she realized he was not staring at her, but rather the car beside her.

The vacuous stare disappeared from her eyes and was replaced by the look of a bloodthirsty predator focusing on its prey. "So, Japanese, you figured it out. We were warned you were a bright one."

She undid the tie on her trenchcoat. Slowly, almost seductively, the garment slid from her shoulders, and then her arms, to puddle on the ground at her feet. Lying beneath was exactly the type of uniform Koji had pictured her in: a tight black leather corset that showed an indecent amount of her ample cleavage, as well as riding up into her crotch as tight as any pair of bikini bottoms would. Her boots went up to the middle of her calves, and long black gloves traveled half way up to her muscular looking bicep. A whip coiled around her waist completed the arousing spectacle before him.

Koji felt his heart skip a beat as the garments she wore triggered his memory of who this woman was. Given her exotic foreign looks, it was easy to remember the one time he had read the file the Security Directorate had compiled on her. Before him was one of the world's foremost assassins, one that specialized almost exclusively in the executions of Imperial subjects, especially full-blooded Japanese. Well over one hundred deaths, nearly all of them at the end of a lash, had been attributed to Sophia Toshinden.

Koji went for the gun behind his back. It was just starting to come around when he felt the leather of the whip slide along the length of it, like a silent snake. It was viscously ripped from his hand, nearly taking his finger off in the process as Sophia brought it back, his gun falling into her gloved hand. Somehow, she had moved so quickly that he hadn't even had time to register the movement of her weapon before he found himself snared in its coiled embrace. How fast could a person be?

"Naughty, naughty, Japanese," she chided. "Personally, I thought you would be too awestruck by my looks to question why I went to your house first if I was stranded on the opposite side of the street. After all, if the houses all look the same, what would make yours so special that I went to it? I assure you, it was quite necessary for what we have planned for you."

There was a tiny flash of light from the interior of the passenger side of the car. Koji recognized it as the flickering of a match. For the briefest of moments, he could make out the face of someone sitting there. It was only a glance, but again, the distinctive, almost trademark, appearance of the person instantly triggered the memory. The man was black, with a white skull either painted or tattooed on his face. No one was certain of which, since the only time anyone saw the face of the French assassin known by the nom-de-guerre of Monsieur Morte was when he was in the process of killing someone. Two of the worlds foremost assassins were right in front of him. Who would have hired them to kill someone as insignificant as Captain Koji Yasuroka?

He was about to make a run for it, hoping her aim wasn't good or that the sights on his gun were off, when there was a blur from Sophia, and he felt something wrap around his legs. A moment later, he realized it was her whip. A quick tug jerked him off his feet. Koji was only dimly aware of a car's engine suddenly erupting from nearby as the back of his head bounced hard off the concrete, stunning him. He tried moving, but Sophia proved herself incredibly strong as she gave a second powerful jerk that nearly ripped his legs out of their sockets and prevented him from regaining a vertical base and finding a way to escape his predicament.

Suddenly, the leather that was wrapped around his legs disappeared. Koji had only a split second to wonder why that was when the tires of a car ran directly over his head. Bone split with a crunch and brains splattered with a wet sound that joined in the symphony of the falling rain as death came instantaneously to the man.

The car's brakes squealed to a stop after the driver felt the back set of tires run over the body beneath him. He rolled down his window and stuck his bowler-topped head out of the window, surveying the damage he had inflicted on his target. Directing a thickly British accented question to Sophia, he asked in a calm and collected voice, "I say, is he dead? I can't very well run over him again and expect to make it look like an accident."

Sophia raced up to the body and felt for a pulse, in spite of the obvious physical damage it had sustained. After a moment, she confirmed, "He's gone. Let's get moving before we're identified."

Anticipating what to do next, Morte had already shifted to the driver's side and started the car. No lights had turned on in any of the houses along the roadway, and in the dead of night it was unlikely anyone was awake and happened to be looking out a window to witness what had occurred. Ideally, even if someone was up and had heard the sound of the 'Gentleman Killer' (a ludicrous name, in Morte's opinion) Neville Smythe's tires squealing, it would only reinforce the idea that their target had been the victim of random a hit and run. But the odds of being spotted and throwing suspicion on the otherwise nearly perfect scenario increased every moment they lingered at the scene.

Smythe's car headed one way while Morte and Sophia's went in the opposite direction. Morte knew the fake license plates they had indicated both cars belonged to two different powerful members of the government, and with any luck no Peaceforcer would dare pull them over and question them for fear of the reprisals that such influential people would inflict upon them for the inconvenience. It was like that everywhere, the puny fearing those with power. That was why Morte had become an assassin, and a particularly ruthless one at that. Assassins had the greatest power there was: the power over life and death. The power of God. And the best part of all was that the rest of the world knew of their awesome ability. Knew it and feared it. That was what assassins did. What they lived for. What they killed for. Only surgeons held a position in society with such similar personal ability, though they worked towards the preservation of life rather than the end of it.

That was why Morte wore the mask of death on all of his assignments: for the fear it would strike into the hearts of others as they discovered their lives were no longer their own. That was one of the few reasons he was willing to work with a true psychopath like Sophia and a popinjay like Smythe: no matter how ridiculous they might appear, each wore the sign of death upon their forms as surely as Morte did. Even if those telltale signs took the form of a leather halter and whip or a bowler hat and umbrella. Signs of power, to be certain. Trademarks of fear. Symbols of death. If there were any doubters, all they had to do was see the look in Koji Yasuroka's eyes the moment he recognized Sophia and Morte. The young man had known the end was upon him, and the fear was like no other that could be inflicted upon another human being.

Monsieur Morte felt the wave of satisfaction that he always felt after a kill, even if he hadn't lifted a finger to help in it. It had been a good night.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I know what you're saying, what does this have to do with QD? No one in this little short has appeared there yet, and it doesn't seem to tie into the current storyline at all, Trust me, it builds upon a different side story I have planned a little ways down the line in which Keele and the assassins play a major role. Surely you didn't think I had the Phoenix Project members in the Roses and Swords side-story drop Keele's name for no reason. Actual character development on Sophia and Smythe, as well as more on Morte and a fourth member of the assassins whose identity must remain a mystery due to my upcoming Shampoo QD story, will be done upon completion of the whole 'Deadly Duo' storyline when the appropriate time comes up. In the interim, I have a much more topical (And longer) side story coming up in which Shampoo's past in QD is visited as we cover her background on the long and winding path that leads her to the ecstasy and agony of what it means to be a warrior in The Arena. Hopefully will have the first chapter done by the end of the week.

Thanks for reading.

D.B. Sommer


End file.
